The Dragon's Ward
by au revoir pets
Summary: Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 1

_Charles Heartphillia swirled the brown alcohol in his cup, debating the decision proposed to him by the older man before him. This was his big chance, he knew he'd never get an opportunity like this again._

"_Well, what is your answer Charles? Do we have a deal?"_

_Charles hesitated before raising his glass to his lips and downing the bitter substance, he coughed before speaking, "you're offering me the money to start my company, that is over £2 million I hope you know…"_

_The man chuckled darkly, taking a swig of his own alcohol, "I know Charles, I know, but how long have we worked together? I like the sound of your business idea, and I trust you. I know you won't let me down"._

_Charles frowned, "but still, this is an awful big deal you're offering me. What do you get out of it, partnership? Money? What is it you want Hades?"_

_Hades smirked, "so you are interested in my proposal?"_

_His frown deepened, "you're being evasive now Hades, this type of behaviour may work on your more foolish clients, but I've worked with you for almost 10 years now, your tricks don't work on me"._

"_Ah, you are a clever one aren't you Charles, I knew it was a good idea to pick you as my apprentice all those years ago. Now, back to your previous question…what do I want from you? Asking for money right now would be a waste…"_

_Charles blushed and ducked his head slightly, he hadn't grown up in the best conditions and even now money was still tight for him, hence why he had approached Hades about a loan._

"…_though I suppose once your business is up and running you could pay me back…though there would be no profit for me. Hm…I wonder…"_

"_What is it?" Charles asked, sounding sceptical as he stared at the devious look on his mentors face._

"_Your first born child. In return for me fronting you the money to start the business, I want your first born child!"_

_The silence in their small booth was painful as Hades stared at Charles expectantly, it had taken all Charles' restraint not to spit his drink into Hades face._

"_E-excuse me? My first born child? Isn't that…a bit…medieval?" he said, wondering what on Earth could cause him to ask such a ridiculous request. Hades merely waved his hand nonchalantly,_

"_I have my reasons Charles, either you give up your first born child, or you forfeit the money to start your company. The decision is yours"._

_Charles leant back in his chair, not even believing that he was seriously considering the offer. Giving up his first born child was a big request, but, he reasoned with himself, he wasn't in a relationship. He had no immediate plans to have children, and even if he suddenly found himself in a relationship he would simply make it clear to the woman that under no circumstances were they to have children. He had never been a man to fall in love and the idea of meeting a woman that would make him fall so hard was preposterous to him. Besides, if he didn't accept the money from Hade's now, he probably wouldn't have another chance. He grinned to himself as he extended his hand to shake Hade's, this was perfect, the way this was going he wouldn't have to owe Hade's a single penny!_

"_You have yourself a deal Hades old friend!"_

_Not two years later Charles Heartphillia fell in love. Not with one of his secretaries. Not with the woman who checked him in at the hotels he stayed at. Not any of his neighbours. He fell in love with a Princess. Layla Princess of Fiore. It baffled him, but for some reason she fell in love with him as well. All thoughts of the agreement he made with Hades was pushed out of his head. They were married within 6 months of meeting each other. Two years later, Layla fell pregnant and like an ominous crack of thunder, Charles suddenly remembered the agreement and he felt his whole world crashing down on him._

_

* * *

_

Shrouded in a cloak of darkness, the terrified King and Queen clutched the sides of their carriage as it pulled them precociously up the rickety and unstable pathway to the small hut at the top.

"Charles…" the blonde Queen whimpered slightly, grasping onto her husbands hand as their carriage hit a large rock and lurched forward ominously.

"Hush Layla," Charles responded, gently stroking his wife's hand in a soothing manner, "we'll be there soon". She pursed her lips and looked forward, her eyes drifting towards the small child sleeping soundly on the seat in front her of. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about what they were about to do. Charles winced in pain as he watched his wife begin to tear up, this was all his fault and it was causing both her and their daughter needless pain. He felt sick.

After a bumpy ten more minutes, the carriage came to an abrupt halt and they found themselves parked outside a smallish hut. It was wonky and had smoke coming out of it's crooked chimney. Charles frowned as they exited the carriage, with Layla carrying their still sleeping child, he had heard rumours about the person they were visiting extravagance, but really…this hut did not look safe. He had been about to demand they turn back and find another solution to their problem, but his child stirred in Layla's arms, moaning something and he knew this had to be done today. The door to the hut creaked open as they walked up the weed cluttered pathway. With a small moment of hesitation, the couple stepped into the hut and closed the door behind them.

"I've been expecting you two for a while now, take a seat", and elderly man nodded towards them and indicated two comfy looking armchairs in his cluttered living room. He was sitting cross legged on a rickety stool smoking a pipe.

"You're Makarov?" Charles said as he and his wife took a seat on the chairs, with Layla clutching their child to her chest. The elderly man nodded,

"And you are King Charles and Queen Layla Heartphillia of Fiore of course. I must admit I was a bit shocked to find out that you two would be paying me a visit. Does the Royal Family not have their own Mages to deal with their problems?"

"We do but…we found them unsatisfactory with this problem", Charles explained.

"Then, please enlighten me with your problem".

For the next 10 minutes Charles and Layla spoke of their problem, they told Makarov of the deal Charles had agreed to years before he had met Layla and fathered her child.

"I see…" Makarov said when Charles had finished telling him the story, "and how old is the child now?"

"She's four", Layla mumbled, clutching her daughter to her chest, "it's her birthday in…in…in a month", small tears started trailing down her cheeks, "please Makarov, please tell me there is something you can do to help us!"

There was a silence for a moment as Makarov pondered their request, "this isn't really a problem that requires magic to be solved is it? I would think you would pursue a lawyer or something or the sort, not an elderly Mage".

"I have!" Charles snapped, getting angry that Makarov didn't think he had done everything he could to help his daughter, "but they've told me I've signed a legal contract and cannot back out of it. It's barbaric, she's a child! She's _our _child, and the courts tell me we have to give her to him!"

"But she is four, almost five, and Hades has not come after you for her yet, what makes you think he ever will, perhaps he has forgotten about your agreement?"

"He hasn't, I know Hades…I worked with him for over a decade. I don't know why he's biding his time, but I can assure you he hasn't forgotten", Charles explained bitterly.

"We're tired of living in fear, everyday I wake up and run to her room to make sure she hasn't been stolen during the night", Layla spoke out, biting her lip to try and still the tears that were threatening to fall, "Charles made a mistake but our daughter shouldn't be punished for it, please Makarov, is there nothing you can do? Erase Hade's memory of the deal? Anything!"

Makarov chuckled slightly, "I cannot erase his memory, Hade's is also an accomplished Mage and the magic would do nothing but anger him-"

Charles and Layla sighed in exasperation, that had been their last hope, they were certain there was nothing Makarov could do for them now.

"…however, there is a spell I could place upon your daughter to delay, and perhaps entirely stop, Hades taking of her. I will place her in a coma like state, she will then be transported to a castle guarded by a dragon. Only a man capable of slaying the dragon will be capable of awakening your daughter. She will be kept in this slumber until said man can wake her up".

"What kind of help is _that_?" Charles spat angrily, "Hades could simply walk up and slay the dragon and steal our daughter from us!"

"Ssh, Charles, let him finish explaining", Layla said sharply as she saw Makarov raise a hand in the air to stop Charles from speaking.

"Thank you, I will place a protective enchantment around the castle that will stop anyone with the blood of Hades running through their veins to enter within 15 miles of the castle. I have also factored in problem that he may send one of his henchmen to take your daughter so I will place and enchantment that will stop anyone with an affiliation with Hades within the last 10 years from entering within 15 miles of the castle. Unfortunately that also includes you, King Charles…you will be unable to enter the castle, though that may be for the best, the dragon will be instructed to slay anyone who attempts to rescue your daughter. Can you deal with that?"

Charles and Layla stared at each other for a while before nodding, "yes…we understand", Layla mumbled, knowing that soon she would not see her daughter for a long time.

"Both enchantments will end once the dragon has been defeated and your daughter has awoken and Hades will be free to take your daughter. _But_," he stressed as he saw the way Charles was beginning to get angry, "the man who has rescued your daughter will have defeated a dragon, I think it is safe to assume he will have no problem defeating Hades. Do we have an agreement?"

"Well…it does all seem rather…like a Fairy Tail, is this really the only solution you can think of?"

"It is I'm afraid. I have faith that my plan will work though if you'll just trust me!"

"And what would you want in return?" Charles said, already having a bad experience with deals with older men, that was what had got him into this situation, "how much is this going to cost us?"

Makarov smiled, "not a penny. I don't want anything in return. You have made a terrible mistake King Charles, but I do not think you should have to suffer anymore. Think of this as my service to the country if you will. Now, I would like to do this as soon as possible to avoid Hades attempting to take her. I know this may seem harsh, but I will need you to say your goodbyes…" he bowed his head slightly and began fidgeting with some books on the table next to him to show them that he was attempting to give them privacy.

Layla sighed sadly and shook her daughter gently to awaken her from her nap, it took a few minutes but eventually she stretched her tiny arms and blinked to get the sleep out of her eyes,

"Mummy?" she yawned blearily as she stared into the face of her crying mother, "Mummy what's wrong?" she outstretched a chubby arm and cupped her mothers face, "did I do something bad?"

"No, no of course not baby", Layla laughed and squeezed her daughter tight, "but…but I'm afraid that mummy and daddy have to leave you for a little bit…"

"Why?" she looked horrified and turned to find her father stroking her back gently, he had never been extremely emotional but she knew he loved her in his own way.

"Hm, do you remember that story I told you about Sleeping Beauty?"

Her eyes lit up immediately and she grinned, "yup! She was sleeping for ages and ages and then a handsome Prince kissed her!" she giggled at the mention of kissing, "and she woke up and got married!"

"Good girl, you're so smart aren't you? Well, that's what you have to do. Y-you," her voice began to break, "you have to go sleep for a long, long time…"

"W-wh-why? What did I do? I didn't prick my finger on a wheel!" tears were flowing down her cheeks, "p-please mummy, p-please daddy, don't leave me! I promise to go to bed early every night!"

Charles and Layla both smiled, "we're not leaving you sweetie, this is for your own good. A bad, bad man wants to take you and this is the only way we can protect you!"

They were all crying, though Charles attempted to hide his tears, when Layla finally managed to soothe her daughter and hand her over to Makarov to place the sleeping enchantment on her.

"Goodbye Lucy, know that we love you very much and when you wake up come and find us straight away. We love you!" they both said as they watched Makarov raise his hands high in the air and lower them across her forehead. Within a few seconds her large eyes fell shut and Lucy Heartphillia fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

The Heartphillia's had just left his home after they had watched him magically transport their sleeping daughter to a castle far away where a dragon would be selected to guard her. He felt sorry for them, he truly did but there was no helping it. If they wanted to save their daughter from whatever evils Hades was planning with her, then this was the only course of action. And he was sure Hades had an evil plan for the young Heartphillia Princess. They had once been friends, Hades and Makarov, but along the way Hades had been corrupted by evil and their friendship had abruptly ended.

"Hades old friend, what are you planning?"...

* * *

:) Review please?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 2

She was having a wonderful dream. Well, she'd been having the same wonderful dream for the past 13 years, but who cares about the small details? The dream was always the same, she would be lying in her incredibly comfy bed, her long blonde hair delicately placed around her face to give her an incredibly attractive windswept look, her lips were plump and ready for the kissing and she was dressed in a gorgeous white gown that fit her perfectly and accentuated her natural curves she was blessed with. After she got a good look at her attractive dream self a handsome man would barge into her room. He was a knight, dressed in shiny metal from his head to his toes. As he entered her room he would stare at her in awe, as if her beauty had actually blinded him. Then he would slowly, and dramatically, pull of his helmet to reveal a messy bush of dark brown hair, and a strong and manly looking face with a strong chin that jutted out in such a perfect way. He would then slowly inch closer and closer to her bed, as if he was afraid to move too fast. When he finally reached her place of slumber he would slowly lower his head and stop just before his own lips pressed against hers. He would then mumble how beautiful he thought she was before completing the journey and pressing his lips against her own. Her eyes would snap open and she would wrap her arms around her rescuers neck before…restarting the dream all over again. Despite the wonder of the dream, it was getting a bit tedious now and she found herself wishing that this damn knight would hurry up and rescue her. She was starting to get stiff lying in bed all day.

Makarov's spell hadn't cast her into a coma like he had thought it would, something she had decided to talk to him about when she finally woke up, instead it had cast her into a sleep like state where she couldn't hear, speak, or move, but she was very much awake. She had spent the last 13 years talking to herself within her mind, often she had to wonder if she had gone crazy. Every now and then she was sure she could hear voices from the outside world muttering about her, but as soon as she attempted to strain to hear them better it was gone and she was back to hearing the cloudy mess she called her thoughts. She was hearing them right now, these voices…

_"Don't you get bored?"_

_"Nah, I get a lot of good fights out of it…"_

She frowned in her head as she tried to focus in on the voices, but either the people speaking had walked away from her, or they had simply stopped talking. This was very frustrating, not to mention absolutely confusing. From what she could remember from what her parents had told her the night she had been put to sleep, nobody was supposed to be able to enter the castle in which she slept because a ferocious dragon was guarding it day and night. Only the person who was able to defeat the dragon would be able to wake her up, and that person would become her Prince Charming. Sighing mentally, she drifted off back to sleep, dreaming about the day her prince would rescue her from this bothersome slumber. Little did she know, this was coming very soon, though the "prince" part was up to interpretation…

* * *

Lucy woke up from her dream with a start, had she been able to move she probably would have fell out of her bed. As it stood, she could only lay immobile with her heart beating much faster than usual. A loud bang had woken her up, coupled with the shaking of her floor, she then heard several screams and curses and was sure that the temperature of her surroundings had risen by a significant amount. Her chest began to swell with anticipation as she realised what was happening in the castle around her.

_My Prince is fighting the Dragon! _she squealed in her mind, wishing she could move so she could do a happy dance and fist pump, _I'm going to get woken up in any moment! _She began mentally preparing herself for the moment as the battle raged on downstairs. She hoped it would be exactly like her dream so she wouldn't have to improvise.

_Oh no! _she screeched in her mind, suddenly remembering that she'd been placed in this sleep state for about 13 years now, and hadn't brushed her teeth in all that time or even bathed! Suddenly, being kissed by a handsome prince didn't seem like the best of ideas. As she began fretting over how she would deal with this problem, the door to the room in which she was staying in was blasted open and she felt a wave of warm air sweep over her still body.

"Calm down!"

She heard an out of breath sounding voice bellow, before the temperature quickly dropped in the room, as if someone had filled the room with ice. If she had been able to move, she would've began shivering violently. As it so happened, she just had lie there, attempting to hear what was going on around her. Had her Prince not defeated the dragon?

"Hah! You think I'm backing down?"

Lucy frowned, that was definitely a second voice. Did she perhaps have two rescuers? The girlish part of her mind began squealing in happiness as she pictured two equally attractive twin princes fighting between each other over who would get the beautiful sleeping princess.

"Shit, _watch the Princess!" _one of the voices warned causing Lucy to frown.

_Huh, watch me? Why, wh- aaaah!_

All of sudden she felt a large thud on her bed, before feeling weightless and belatedly realising that she had been sent flying through the air by the force that had crashed into her bed. She had no idea where she was heading, but mentally braced herself for an impact, reminding herself to beat up these apparent rescuers for allowing her to get injured in the first place. Instead of crashing into a solid wall like she had been expecting, she found herself being cushioned by a pair of warm arms and what she suspected was a muscled chest.

"I told you to watch the Princess, Ice Brain!" the man who had caught her snarled angrily at his companion. Lucy found herself warming to this mystery man, at least he had cared about her safety, unlike the other man.

"_I _was watching out for her. You're the one who was about to burn her to death back there! If I didn't push her out of the way, she would've been barbequed!"

Lucy found her previous liking for the man holding her was ebbing away very quickly, he had been about to kill her for pete's sake!

"Yeah well…you didn't have to push her so hard!"

Lucy then felt a warm hand push into her neck roughly as if the person doing it was inexperienced at finding a pulse,

"YOU KILLED HER!" he cried. Lucy had been right, this man did not know how to find a pulse and had missed her beating one.

"What! No I didn't!" the second man sounded quite scared at the fact that he had possibly killed the princess.

_Good! _Lucy thought stubbornly, _that'll teach you to be more careful next time. Woah! _suddenly she felt herself being turned and she realised that the man had laid her down on her back.

"What the hell are you doing Salamander?" Lucy heard footsteps moving closer to her, and she realised the second man had crouched down near her body to see what is "Salamander" person was doing.

"CPR…if she's dead Gramps will kill me. And I won't get paid!"

_Paid? _Lucy asked in her mind, making a mental note to ask her rescuer what he meant by getting paid. Right now she had to focus on her impending kiss. Sure, it wasn't technically a kiss…it was CPR, but it was still lip to lip contact and in her mind that counted as a kiss and she prayed to God that the caster of the spell considered it as a kiss because she did _not _want to be put back to sleep for God knows how many years.

"Here goes…"

_Here goes!_

She heard him take a deep breath and she felt her heart beat quicken, _this was it_, all too soon she felt his lips upon her own. Before he had a chance to breathe into her mouth, thus making it CPR, she found that the spell was rapidly weakening and she now had the power to move her lips against his own. Someone in the recess' of her mind, she took in the information that his lips were very warm and soft, and had a sort of spicy taste to them, all in all it was very pleasurable and ended far too soon for her tastes.

"AAAAAAAH!" the man screamed loudly, scrambling away from Lucy so he was sitting against the far end of the room. Lucy bit her bottom lip, feeling sad that her first kiss had reacted to it so badly, maybe she was a terrible kisser. Trying not to let the hurt she felt show on her face, she sat up ignoring the pins and needles she was inevitably feeling, and took a good look at her surroundings. It looked like a bomb had hit her room, and she supposed that had something to do with the battle that had occurred whilst she had been sleeping. To her right stood a man with jet black hair, he was staring at her with a strange smirk on his face. She had to admit that he was rather handsome with smooth features and a wonderful six pack that…she yelped slightly as she realised that she was ogling his impressive chest. Blushing a furious shade of red she turned away from him. Although she had been out of it for a while, she was sure that it was still proper etiquette to wear clothing! Her eyes scanned the destroyed room until they landed on a pink haired man sitting crouched in a corner, he looked absolutely gob smacked. He was wearing a black and gold waistcoat sort of clothing, and she could make out an impressive chest in the gap in the middle. Thinking of clothes, she looked down at her at her own body, fearing that perhaps she was in a state of near nakedness, as she had only been four when the spell was cast on her. Thankfully she realised that she had was dressed in a long red dress and assumed that along with the sleep spell, as spell had been cast to keep her decently dressed throughout the years.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, well aware that both men were staring at her with odd expressions on their faces,

"Um, hello. Thank you for rescuing me from the dragon's keep, I am Princess Lucy Heartphillia", she said, repeating the speech she had practised for this exact moment. She turned to face the dark haired man, "and you are?"

"Gray…Gray Fullbuster…"

"Well, thank you Prince Gray for aiding in my rescue!" she curtseyed, therefore missing the small smirk Gray gave her when she called him a Prince. She then turned to the pink haired man who was still sitting in the corner, though the look on his face now seemed rather worried instead of repulsed by their kiss, she took this as a good sign.

"And _you_" she smiled brightly and took a few tentative steps towards him, "you're the brave Prince who slayed the dragon and awakened me from my slumber, I think I ought to know your name…"

Before he could answer Gray snorted loudly causing Lucy to whip round and stared at him.

"Yes Prince Gray?"

Gray rolled his eyes, "first of all, I'm not a Prince. And _he _didn't slay a dragon!"

Lucy frowned, this wasn't how it was supposed to work. A Prince, who then became her true love, was supposed to rescue her from the dragon, but she supposed that if the spell didn't need a Prince then she didn't need one either.

"Ah so Gray…were you the one who slayed the dragon?"

Gray shook his head, "nah, I tried" he grinned as if he was enjoying some sort of inside joke, "but I didn't manage it this time".

Lucy froze before turning her head to the semi destroyed door in fear, "so you're telling me that you didn't deal with the dragon? What kind of rescuers are you two? You've gone about this in completely the wrong way!" she seriously considered climbing back into her broken bed and demanding that someone put her back to sleep until they correctly defeated the dragon. A sheepish sounding voice broke her out of her thoughts and she turned back to the pink man to find him standing up and scratching the back of his head nervously,

"We're not your rescuers…" he stated with a sheepish grin.

Lucy's mouth fell open, "you're…not…? Then who on Earth are you and why are you smashing up my bedroom!" she shrieked, stamping her foot on the floor. She knew she was acting childish, but she'd been waiting the majority of her life for this moment and to be told that it wasn't even happening was enough to reduce her to this childish temper tantrum.

"Well…I'm Natsu Dragneel…the Fire Dragon…"

_I'm Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon_

_**I'm Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon…**_

Lucy felt like she was about to faint.

* * *

Aw! I'm glad a lot of you liked it so far...please continue to review for me please :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 3

"You are _not _a Dragon", Lucy stated firmly as she stalked past both Natsu and Gray and plopped down on her semi-destroyed bed, "I may have been asleep for the past thirteen years, but my mother did tell me stories and I know for a fact that Dragons are huge scaly creatures that walk on four legs, have wings, a pointy tail and _breathe fire_", she narrowed her eyes as she stared at Natsu who was now leaning against the wall looking slightly bemused, "you on the other hand are a human. You are not huge, you do not have scales instead of skin, you walk on two legs, you don't have wings or a pointy tail and most importantly, you don't breathe fire!" She folded her arms across her chest and stared angrily at the two men who had destroyed her room and awoken her from her slumber,

"Now, could you please explain to me, if you aren't my rescuers, who are you and what are you doing in my castle?"

"It's _my _castle as well you know", Natsu growled, not liking this Princess' attitude at all, he would've thought she would have been a bit more grateful after everything he had done for her after all!

Lucy felt her anger flare up slightly and she stood up and stalked to where Natsu was standing.

"No it is not! You and him are trespassing," she shot a finger out a Gray, "or perhaps…are you two Princess' as well that were put into a deep slumber only to be woken up by their one true love? No…oh what a shame, well then this is not your castle and you have no right to be here!" she had to fight the urge to stamp her foot childishly on the floor once more. She was frustrated, she had been waiting all this time to be woken by her Prince, and all she got were two fools - two extremely good looking fools - but fools nonetheless.

Natsu was close to losing it, and Gray could see that. Natsu began scowling at the blonde Princess in a very uncharacteristic way. Normally Natsu was a happy go lucky type of guy, and to see him take such an immediate dislike to someone was completely unheard of.

"Oi Lucy-"

"_Princess _Lucy!"

"Okay, Princess Lucy…this is all just a big misunderstanding, just let us exp-"

He was cut off by the sound of a distant voice,

"_Hello~ Isn't there supposed to be a dragon somewhere around here…. Princess can you hear me?"_

Natsu growled angrily and turned towards the door, before he exited her turned around quickly and mumbled to Gray, "keep her in here please?"

Gray nodded and watched as Natsu leapt through the hole they had created in the door. He then turned his attention to Lucy.

"What are you doing?" he gasped in amazement. Lucy had gone from looking like she was about to kill Natsu to looking like the sweetest thing in the world. She started pinching her cheeks lightly to give them a red glow, she had fluffed her hair up a bit to give it more volume and now she was batting her dress down with her hands to get rid of any dust.

"Quickly Gray!" Lucy ordered, running towards her bed, "help me put my bed back together, quickly!"

Gray frowned at her, "what the hell are you doing?" he asked, wondering why she was desperately trying to push her bed together. Lucy huffed exasperatedly and put her hands on her hips,

"Really Gray, do I need to spell it out for you? That was quite obviously my Prince calling out back there! My _true _Prince has come for me and I can't have him finding me in this state of dishevelment. So, hurry up and help me put my bed together, I've got to at least pretend to be asleep for when he comes!"

Gray snorted a little, before realising that she was serious. He shrugged his shoulders lightly and then moved to help her. Truthfully, he thought her notion that her Prince was coming to rescue her was slightly pathetic, but he reasoned that she had had nothing else to think about for the past 13 years so it was perfectly reasonable that she was freaking out now the time seemed to be so close. Still, it seemed cruel to allow her to get her hopes up only to have them crushed. They silently pushed the bed back together and then put it back in it's original position. Only once Lucy attempted to climb back into her bed, did Gray stick out an arm and stop her.

Lucy scowled up at him, "Gray?"

Gray sighed, "listen Lucy…this is just a waste of time".

"No it's not. Although the spell may be broken, my Prince doesn't know that and he is going to be expecting me to be lying in wait for him, and I intend to do just that!"

Gray rolled his eyes, this was going to be difficult and he mentally cursed Natsu for leaving him to deal with the Princess, "what makes you so sure he's even going to come, huh? What about the dragon, it could easily kill your precious Prince you know?"

Lucy snatched her arm away from Gray and bit her lower lip worriedly, before shaking her head, "no, you and Natsu managed to bypass the dragon, and I'm sure if you two could do it," she spoke condescendingly and Gray found his patience ebbing away slightly, "then my Prince can do it as well! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a comfortable position to- HEY!"

"Oh for God's sake!" Gray grumbled before yanking at her arm roughly and dragging her out of the room. He ignored her protests to put her back immediately and followed the sound of crashing walls.

"What are you doing?" Lucy hissed as Gray took her through the castle, belatedly she realised that she had never left her room before and the castle was quite impressive, but right now she was more focused on the fact that Gray was leading her to wherever the dragon and her Prince were fighting, "you're going to get me _killed!"_

Gray ignored her once more and led her down another corridor, this time stopping just before the next corner. He made them crouch down slightly and then shifted so Lucy was in front of him, peering around the corner.

"Just watch!" Gray said bluntly, Lucy looked at him confusedly before peering round the corner. Her eyes widened in surprise first, and then anger and Gray had to forcibly hold her by the waist to stop her from barging in on the fight.

"What is he doing!" Lucy shrieked. When she had looked around the corner she had seen a tall man dressed head to toe in iron, and then had seen Natsu standing a few metres in front of him with his fists raised as if he were about to start fighting her Prince. She wiggled free of Gray's grasp and shuffled closer to the corner to see what was going on.

Her Prince had brandished his long sword, "move child, I am here to slay the dragon and awaken Princess Lucy from her slumber. You are impeding my work!"

Natsu rolled his eyes and began to push up his imaginary sleeves, "why do you guys always have speeches that I don't understand? Come on then, slay the dragon and then you can have her".

"You are in my way! Move or I shall be forced to cut you down!"

Natsu made no motion to move so the Prince chuckled darkly, before raising his sword and running towards Natsu.

Although Lucy thought he deserved it for standing in the way of her Prince, she couldn't help but gasp as Natsu simply stood there, as if he was accepting his fate.

"Aren't you going to help him?" she wailed to Gray, "I know he's an idiot, but I don't want him to die!"

"Just watch him," Gray drawled lazily, not even bothering to watch the fight. Lucy frowned, but listened to him and looked around the corner again. As the Prince drew nearer to Natsu Lucy couldn't help but squeeze her eyes tight, she didn't want to watch his blood splashed all over the floor. Instead of hearing a scream of agony like she had been anticipating, the temperature rose, just like it had before Gray and Natsu had woken her up. She opened her eyes and stared in wonder at the scene before her. A burning line of fire divided Natsu from the Prince and she felt her heart beat quicken.

"The Dragon!" she yelped, turning to Gray once more, "the Dragon must be near, we have to help them!"

Gray glared at her, did she really not know the meaning of "just watch"?

"What is this magic?" the Prince yelled over the roaring flame, causing Lucy to direct her attention back to the fight. She was actually surprised that the dragon hadn't finished them off yet.

Natsu yawned as if bored, "you're boring me…you're not even that strong. You don't deserve Lucy".

An odd shiver went through her spine as he said her name, he hadn't said it in front of her and it sounded odd coming off his tongue. But in a good way, she surprisingly liked it.

Both the Prince and Natsu took up a defensive stance. The Prince brandished his sword a bit more, whilst Natsu crouched low and pressed his fists up to his mouth as if he were attempting to warm them up.

"I don't have time for your nonsense!" the Prince snarled, running towards Natsu.

"Fire Dragon's Breath!" Natsu bellowed before a beam of fire shot out of his mouth and struck the Prince in the gut. It wasn't hot enough to kill him, Natsu had done that on purpose, but the force of it sent the Prince plummeting out of the castle, and there was no doubt that he would be nursing some pretty bad burns when he finally came to.

"Pathetic…I didn't even break a sweat!" Natsu moaned as he slammed the castle doors back shut and began to make his way back to Lucy's room. Fortunately - or unfortunately, which ever way you look at it - he didn't have long to wait.

"YOU CAN BREATHE FIRE!" a high pitched, shrill voice yelled and he suddenly heard the sound of slapping footsteps on marble floor. He looked up to find Lucy running towards him, with a sheepish Gray trailing behind her.

"You can breathe fire…how is that possible…" Lucy breathed as she stood in front of Natsu, "what type of magic is that?"

Natsu hesitated a moment before saying, "…Dragon Slayer Magic…and I thought I told you to keep her in the room, baka!" he added shooting Gray a glare. Gray just shrugged.

"Ahah!" Lucy yelled, sounding triumphant, "I was right, you're not a Dragon, you just know some magic that allows you to use fire!"

"My dad was a dragon…a real one with scales and wings!" he said teasingly, mimicking her words from earlier.

Lucy scowled at him, ignoring his comment, "so…where is the real dragon and what do you think you're doing attacking my Prince?"

"Bloody hell, I thought you were smart!" Gray suddenly yelled, he had hoped that by getting her to watch the fight she would understand the situation they were in, "Natsu is the Fire Dragon Slayer hired to guard the castle, basically…he is a dragon in human form!"

Lucy stared at Natsu for a few moments before shaking her head and turning away from him, "impossible. He can't be any older than me, how am I too believe that he's been guarding me for the past 13 years?"

"Because I have…look can we sit down somewhere so I can explain?"

Lucy nodded and allowed Natsu to lead the way…

* * *

The castle she had been living in was _huge_ and she was sure she was going to get lost. She couldn't imagine how Natsu had managed to live in this huge castle with no company for so long, that is…if he was telling the truth about his story. She was still sceptical and wondered perhaps if he and his friend were thieves or something. Natsu led them down a few well lit corridors and eventually stopped in front of a large wooden door.

"We can talk in here, I'm hungry as hell…" he said as he pushed the door open and stalked in. Gray followed him straight away, and Lucy got the distinct feeling that he had been here before. After a few seconds hesitation she stepped through the doorway and gasped at the room she had found herself in.

She was standing in a large kitchen with a huge wooden table in the middle of the room. There were hundreds of cupboards lining the walls and a huge gleaming fridge freezer in the far end of the room. On the table was a large bowl of shiny fruits and she felt her mouth watering as she ogled them. In her sleep like state she hadn't felt hunger, a perk to the spell, but now she was wide awake, she remembered she hadn't eaten in _years_.

Her mouth dropped open even more as she watched Natsu stroll up to the fridge and throw the door open. She couldn't even begin to describe the amount of food that was squashed into the contraption. She was sure she hadn't even heard of most of it. Natsu grabbed a large box and brought it back to the table Gray was now sitting on. Her eyes drifted towards the left side of the room and she noticed a large sink…full to the brim with plates, cups and other cutlery. She raised an eyebrow, making a mental note that she would _not _be cajoled into washing those dishes.

"FOOD!" he bellowed before violently attacking the box, Gray mimicked her actions and Lucy blanched. Within seconds food was splattered across the table and across the boys faces. Knowing she'd probably regret it later, she walked over to the table and plopped down in the seat opposite Natsu, wincing as specks of food hit her face.

"WARHHNT SARM FROOD RUCYY?" Natsu spluttered with food in his mouth, sticking his hand into the box and pulling out a large slice of pizza, "COME ORRN, ISSH REAL NAIICE!"

Lucy wrinkled her nose and pushed her chair away from the table, "I'm afraid I don't speak Neanderthal", she said, not understanding a word of what Natsu was saying. Natsu swallowed thickly before saying,

"I said, want some food? It's nice y'know…" he waved the pizza in her face.

"Um, no thank you…it's cold…"

"Cold pizza is nicest," Gray put in, reaching for his fifth slice.

"I can heat it up for you," Natsu said thoughtfully and Lucy found herself smiling, perhaps he wasn't as oblivious and idiotic as she had originally thought, "when it's hot it gets really oily thought… but you look like you like oily food so that'll be fine!" he grinned cheekily and ignored Lucy's protests of, _I do NOT like oily food_, and began spinning the pizza slice on one of his fingers. Then he copied the move he had used against the Prince and breathed a steady stream of fire over the pizza. It wasn't as strong as his previous fire breathe, but after a few seconds the pizza was hot enough for Lucy to eat. He then ripped a piece off the pizza box, dropped the pizza on it and slid it across the table for Lucy to eat. Lucy stared at it sceptically, causing Natsu to scoff slightly.

"Just eat it already…you haven't eaten in thirteen years, I know you're hungry. And it's oily, just the way you like it!"

"Who told you I like oily food!" Lucy yelled, knowing already that her words wouldn't have any effect on him, already he was smiling off her anger and tucking into his next slice of pizza. Sighing slightly, Lucy gingerly picked the pizza up and bit into it, surprisingly it was very nice. Though she didn't know if that was due to the fact that she hadn't eaten in years, or whether the pizza was genuinely nice. Either way, she didn't care and hungrily tucked in to her pizza. Out of the corner of his eye, Natsu saw her ravishing her pizza and proceeded to heat up another slice for her and slid it over to her as soon as she finished the first one. They finished devouring the pizza in a comfortable silence, and for a moment Lucy forgot all about her troubles of being awakened too early by these strange men. As soon as she swallowed the last bite of her pizza she sat up straight and stared at both Natsu and Gray.

"Well? I think it's time you explain to me what you're doing here!"

Natsu looked at Gray who waved a dismissive hand before sticking his hands behind his neck and leaning backwards on his chair, "it's all yours man", he said grinning as Natsu shot him a glare.

"Okay…well…basically I was hired to watch you and defeat anyone who attempts to take you. It's pretty simple really…" Natsu said as he scratched his hair, he thought it was an easy concept to understand and didn't know why Lucy wasn't getting it.

Lucy growled a little bit, "no, I'm not taking that. I was supposed to be under lock and key and guarded by a _dragon_. Forgive me, but I still don't agree that you're a dragon no matter what magic you know! I'm sure my mother and father wouldn't be happy to know that my safety was entrusted to someone barely older than me!"

"Doesn't matter if they're not happy about it, I've been doing it…and I've been doing it well!" Natsu said smugly, sounding proud of himself for doing a good job.

"What did you mean by 'hired'? And earlier you said that you weren't going to get paid if I was injured…"

Natsu's face lit up happily, "ah yeah! I'm part of a Guild-"

"_We're _part of a Guild" Gray said, poking Natsu in his ribs a little bit, he decided to take over telling Lucy because it was a known fact that Natsu could get a little bit too excited when talking about things he was passionate about, "you know what a Guild is, right?"

Lucy pursed her eyebrows as she thought about the limited information she had about Guilds, "um, they're like large organisations for different groups of people, right?"

Gray nodded, "right. We're from a Mages Guild called Fairy Tail," he pointed to a blue tattoo on his chest, and Lucy wondered why she hadn't thought to ask about it before, Natsu also pointed to a red tattoo he had on his shoulder.

"We basically get paid to do missions for people…and Natsu's mission has been exactly what he just told you."

"But it was supposed to be a dragon! A dragon! Not _him_!"

"Dragon's are rare you know, even in this world of magic. One hasn't been sighted in years…" Natsu sounded sad as he spoke about dragons, and Lucy wondered why that was.

"Okay, okay, I get this whole Mage thing, but honestly…he would've been about 5 when he was hired to guard me. No sane person would hire a 5 year old to do something like that!"

"Yeah well, Gramps isn't the most sane of people is he?"

"So what are you then? If he's my dragon, who are you? His male servant?" Lucy sniggered as both Natsu and Gray turned a shade of red and immediately began spluttering angrily.

"O-oi shut up, that's not even funny", Gray growled.

"I guess you could say we're _friends_…" Natsu said.

"I would say acquaintances, but whatever…" Gray remarked earning himself a glare from Natsu. Lucy immediately got the impression that they actually enjoyed each others company a lot more than they let on.

_Boys_, she huffed in her mind, _I never understood them when I was 4, and I still don't understand them now…figures._

"Anyway, like Natsu said, he's been here for as long as you have. So we come and visit him quite a lot, otherwise he'd probably go insane from loneliness."

Lucy began to feel a bit sorry for him, he'd had to watch her in a castle for all this time and she was sure she wasn't the best company, and she had been so rude to him in the few hours she had been awake. She made a mental note to try and rectify this problem later on.

"How does that work then, the wizard who cast the spell was supposed to do it so that only those with the intention of rescuing me could cross the castle borders in order to prevent others from getting killed by the dragon."

Natsu flexed his shoulder and pointed to his tattoo, "this is the Fairy Tail tattoo, anyone with it can come and go as they please. Normally Happy's here with me, but he said he wanted to stock up on some fish…"

"I had a mission not too far from here, so I came to make sure Natsu was alr- I mean, I came to get my rematch with him!" Gray quickly altered his sentence and Lucy knew that she was right in her assumption that the two boys liked each other greatly despite their exterior.

"Oh yeah we didn't finish our fight! Why was that?" Natsu asked, sounding genuinely confused. Lucy felt something tick in her mind,

"Maybe because you two idiots almost killed me during your little fight and then woke me up-" Lucy paused in her angry ramblings for a minute, a new thought had dawned on her, "I'm awake," she said simply.

"I am awake".

Natsu and Gray exchanged worried glances, had something gone wrong in her head.

"I AM AWAKE!" she suddenly shouted, pumping her fists up in the air, "I'm awake…I'm awake…and what am I still doing here?" she moved to stand up but was stopped by Natsu's angry sounding voice.

"What the hell are you doing?" he growled, standing up himself and moving round the table to where Lucy was standing, "you're not going anywhere".

Lucy snorted, "of course I am. My parents are waiting for me…as nice as I'm sure you are, I'm not about to hang around here with you when I haven't seen my parents in over a decade."

Natsu sighed and rubbed his face, this was really quite tiring, "no, I mean you _can't _leave, you haven't been rescued by a Prince," he snarled the last word and looked quite disgusted by the thought of anyone rescuing her.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lucy deadpanned.

"Nope, if you leave here now you won't have anyone to protect you and you'll get taken by that Hades guy and most importantly…_I won't get paid!"_

"All you care about is if you'll get paid isn't it!" Lucy snarled. They were standing practically nose to nose with each other, with Lucy prodding Natsu in his chest, they looked rather like an old married couple.

"Pretty much, yeah!" Natsu retorted.

"What, so I'm supposed to stay in this castle with you until a Prince comes along that can beat you?"

Natsu laughed lightly, "yup, and the way things are going, I doubt that's going to happen any time soon."

Lucy scowled at him, wishing for nothing more than for someone to barge into the castle and beat Natsu in a bloodied pulp, "ooh I hate you! You are _horrible_", she hissed before turning on her heel and marching out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.

"You sure have a way with the ladies," Gray remarked sarcastically as the door shook slightly because of the force Lucy used to slam it shut.

Natsu only shrugged and walked over to the fridge to get some more food to eat. It had been an adventurous day for him and he knew things were going to start changing in his life. He wasn't sure if it would be a good change though…

* * *

**A/N: **Oh my goodness, this is really long isn't it? I really appreciate all the reviews I've gotten so far, I am still baffled as to why I've got so many already but really thank you and keep doing it please :3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 4

Anger coursed through her veins as she stormed around the castle, letting out a little shriek of frustration every time she turned into yet another dead end. When she had calmed down enough to look retrospectively back on her behaviour, she knew she would realise how childish she was being. What 17 year old girl in their right mind would have a temper tantrum and run round a castle screaming her head off? At that point in time though, she did not care. She had never been so angry in her whole life. Granted…she had been asleep for most of her life, but that was a small and irrelevant detail that she preferred to ignore. She was angry with everyone and everything. She was angry at the stupid magician who had agreed to cast this spell on her. She was angry with the evil Hades for wanting to take her anyway. She was angry with her parents for getting her into this horrible mess. And more than anything, she was angry at Natsu. Though she could not put her finger on _why _exactly she was mad with him. In the end, she supposed it was because he was the only outlet she had at the moment, and since he was the dragon and therefore her captor, she surmised that she had every right to be angry at him.

_He _is _just doing his job…_a sly voice in the recesses of her mind suddenly spoke out, causing her to frown and bite her lower lip, _he even tried to be nice to you by offering you food. _You're _the one acting like a spoilt brat towards him…though you are a Princess, what else could he expect?_

"Shut up", Lucy growled to herself as she resumed her angry storming through the castle. Great, now she had another name to add onto her list of people she was angry at. Herself. She was acting in an extremely unacceptable manner,

"Ah what would Mama say if she saw me now?" she mused aloud, slowing her steps to stare out of a large window, she closed her eyes after staring out of the window and into the impressive grounds below and tried to imagine her Mother standing next to her, giving her some of her trusted advice, but she couldn't imagine her. It had been too long. All she could remember of her mother was a wonderful head of long blonde hair, but that was it. Lucy resumed her exploration of the castle, wondering if the fact that she could not remember her mother clearly was an indication that she was a bad daughter. Sighing loudly once more, she continued her trek through the large castle.

* * *

She wasn't sure how long she had been wandering around the large castle, but she guessed she had been at it for a good few hours as the sun had begun to set, causing the already darkened hallways to become even more dark. She was beginning to get scared, and even jumped in fright once or twice due to her shadow making a particularly ominous shape against the dark walls. She couldn't understand how Natsu had managed to live here for all those years, she surely would have gone mad from the complete silence in the castle. A wave of sympathy washed over her, but she quickly brushed it off,

"Why am I feeling sorry for _him_? He signed up for this, I'm the only who is here against my will!" she rambled as she walked through the eerie corridors. She was now talking aloud because the silence of the castle was becoming unbearable and she needed to hear something to remind her that she was alive and hadn't been killed by one of the ghosts she was sure roamed the halls. How could they be in such a large castle without a single ghost?

"Maybe Natsu already beat them all…" she wondered hopefully, that idea becoming more realistic to her. Despite her fear of being attacked at any moment, she had to admit that her exploration of the castle had been rather beneficial to her knowledge. She now knew that there were eight floors in the spacious building. Every floor had two bathrooms - apart from the fourth which only had one - and each floor also had a kitchen that mirrored the one she had sat in with Natsu in Gray. She had quickly inspected the kitchens and to her surprise had found out that each one was stocked with plenty of food and she assumed that some sort of magic had been placed to keep them stocked with food since neither Natsu or Lucy had been able to leave the castle. The fifth floor had no bedrooms, and aside from the kitchen and two bathrooms the only other room on the floor was a large swimming pool, and she made a mental note to try that out as soon as possible. The seventh and eighth floors were virtually deserted and she had had a coughing fit as she walked through mounds of dust when she had explored those two floors.

"What floor is my room on?" she asked herself, now feeling extremely frustrated with herself for not counting when Gray had taken her to see Natsu's fight. She knew it was not on the ground floor because she explicitly remembered going down at least one flight of stairs with Gray.

"I wonder where Natsu is," she said, even though she didn't particularly want to bask in his company for longer than necessary, she could admit that it would be handy to have someone who actually knew the castle to guide her. She let out a high pitched shriek as the sun finally set, submerging her in utter darkness. She immediately thought she heard something move a bit further down the hallway.

"H-Hello?" she whimpered, automatically sticking her hands out in front of her to stop her from banging into anything, "Natsu…Gray…are…are you there?" her voice was shaky and unsteady as she began walking slowly down the corridor, using her hands to stop her from tripping over the large rug that ran through the house.

"I just need to find a room," she told herself as she began to slowly pick up her pace, fearing that someone - or something - was tailing her in the corridor. When she had entered all the previous rooms, she had noticed that they were all generously lit with candles, providing the light she so desperately craved right now. She suddenly heard a low chuckling and her heart jumped into her throat.

"Natsu…Gray? Is that you?" she asked into the darkness, her voice cracking with every syllable, there was no audible answer but she then heard the sound of wings flapping and then the sound of footsteps padding lightly towards her. Whoever it was walking towards her, they were still a good distance away, "Natsu?" she whimpered out once more. After she heard no reply she quickly turned on her heel and jetted down the hallway, not caring if she alerted the ghoul to her presence. She just needed to get into a room, then she would be okay. The sound of flapping wings was getting louder now and she began to incorporate the idea of Vampires into her theory that this castle was haunted. That was the only logical reason she could think of for hearing something flapping.

"_Aye!"_

Lucy froze for a fraction of a second before running like a mad woman down the corridor. She had just heard something say "Aye", and she knew it was neither Natsu or Gray for the voice was far too high pitched.

"I'm going to be killed by a ghost!" she squealed, begging for a door handle to erupt from the so far solid wall. The fluttering wings were much louder now and she got the feeling that the creature was only a few metres behind her now.

"Aha!" she yelped triumphantly as her shaking fingers suddenly ran across something cold and in the shape of a door handle. She had found a room to hide in. She let out a deep breath of air and was about to turn the doorknob when the same high pitched voice from before spoke, this time right in her ear.

"That's not your room…"

She wanted to scream, but it was as if in her fright she had lost her voice. Instead, she slowly turned around to face the dreaded ghoul.

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed before sticking her arms out and batting away at the creature in front of her. She knew she had hit her target because she soon heard a pained,

"ouch!" and then a small thud, letting her know that the beast had fell to the floor. Taking this as her cue to get away, she quickly turned the doorknob and ran into the room, slamming the door behind her.

She had been right in her assumption that the rooms would be light. About twenty or so candles littered the walls of the spacious room she had just walked in to.

"Oh dear," she said with her eyes wide as she stepped into the room. Going by the fact that the only person who lived in the castle besides her was Natsu, she assumed she was right in guessing that she had just walked into his room, "I'm the Dragon's Den". She wrinkled her nose in mild disgust as she stepped over several pairs of dirty pants and made her way to a comfortable looking arm chair in the corner of the room near a cluster of candles. His room was extremely messy, plates, cups, bowls, clothes, tattered books, magazines, and even more food littered his floor _and _bed and she wondered how on earth he managed to get to sleep every night. She lowered herself carefully onto the chair and pulled her legs up to hug her chest. She wasn't extremely comfortable sitting in his room, they had just met after all and they hadn't made the best first impressions, but she supposed that this would mean that she would definitely see him tonight and hopefully get him to escort her back to her own room so she would be safe from the beast she had so narrowly avoided. She shuddered and squeezed her legs closer to her chest as she thought of the strange creature. She didn't get a very good look at it, but she did remembered a blue blur as well as white wings and assumed it must have been some sort of demon creature sent from the very pits of Hell to kill her! …She had a very active imagination.

She wasn't too sure how long she had been sitting in his room, but after a while she realised she must have dozed off because she found herself jumping to a start as something started rustling the doorknob. She held a tentative breath, praying it wasn't the creature from before. To her relief, Natsu came bounding through the door, though she could see something was wrong.

"Lucy, there you are!" he breathed, "I was getting worried - hey why are you in my room?"

Lucy felt her facial features soften as he mentioned that he had been worried about her whereabouts and she remembered her earlier promise to be nicer to him, before she had a chance to explain to him why she was invading his private space he launched into another bout of 100 mile an hour speaking,

"Anyway, I was worried cause I think something snuck in while we were eating…I just found Happy unconscious in the corridor!"

Lucy gasped, "it must've been the thing that attacked me!" she suddenly jumped up from her seat feeling sorry for this Happy person who had been attacked by the same beast, "will your Happy friend be alright?"

Natsu nodded, "oh yeah, Happy'll be _fine_, he's made of stronger stuff than that".

Lucy felt relieved, "Natsu…where is Happy?"

"In the corridor…"

Lucy always had the inkling that Natsu was perhaps not the most wisest of people in the world, and this statement only confirmed her suspicions, "you left him out there alone? Are you a complete moron? What if the beast comes back!" Lucy yelled, feeling extremely frustrated when Natsu gave her a look that showed that he had not thought of this.

"Ah I never thought of that, you're so smart Luce!" he then turned around and quickly dashed into the darkness, presumably to drag Happy into safety. Lucy was left standing alone in the room for a few seconds with an odd blush on her face.

"Luce…" she mumbled quietly, the nickname had slipped so effortlessly from his lips as if he hadn't even thought of it, as if they had been good friends all their lives. She doubted he was even aware that he had said it. Natsu interrupted her musings by barging back into the room with a blue bundle in his arms.

"I've got hi-"

"NATSU WATCH OUT!" Lucy yelped, jumping behind the chair in fear of the creature in his arms, "why are you holding the monster?"

Natsu blinked at her in a clueless manner, "huh?"

"The monster. _The monster in your arms you idiot!" _she could not understand how once person could be so oblivious, was this really the person who had been entrusted to guard her safely?

Natsu blinked once more before breaking into a loud roar of laughter, "Happy isn't a monster! He's Happy!"

Now it was Lucy's turn to look clueless, "are you telling me…that that _thing _in your arms is Happy…your friend Happy?"

Natsu nodded proudly, "yup, this is Happy, isn't he cool?"

Before Lucy had a chance to express her doubts that Happy was "cool", the blue creature began to stir in Natsu's arms.

"N-N-Natsu?" it croaked in the same high pitched voice Lucy had heard before.

"I'm here Happy, what the hell happened?"

"I was attacked…"

Lucy blushed and stood up from her hiding place behind the chair, getting ready to apologise profusely for her terrible mistake.

"…by a blonde _witch_," Happy finished off weakly.

"I am not a WITCH!" Lucy yelled angrily, how dare this odd blue thing call her a witch. She was a Princess for goodness sake.

Happy shifted himself in Natsu's arms and took a look at Lucy before pretending to faint dramatically,

"IT'S HER! IT'S THE WITCH!"

"Stop calling me a witch!"

"WITCH!"

"Stop it!"

"WIIIIIITCH!"

Lucy had been about to walk right up to Happy and render him unconscious once again, but Natsu had begun laughing again and it stopped her in her footsteps.

"And _what_ may I ask is so funny?"

Natsu said nothing and instead set Happy down on the floor. Lucy gasped, she had truly never seen such an odd creature before.

"Are…are you a cat?" she asked uncertainly as Happy took a few wobbly steps towards her.

Happy nodded and grinned cheesily at her and said, "Aye! I'm Happy the Catamander!" before stretching out a blue paw.

She stared at it for a moment before taking it in her own hand and shaking it firmly, "err, right, well I'm Princess Lucy of Fiore and I'm really sorry about hurting you earlier…I thought you were going to eat me!"

"I only eat fish".

"Well that's reassuring…" she smiled at him genuinely and hoped that he had forgiven her, it appeared he had as he returned the smile.

It was only now that she realised that Natsu was staring at her with an odd expression on his face,

"What?" she asked feeling self conscious as she stood upright again, "do I have something on my face?"

Natsu shook his head, "no…it's just nice to know that you have a nice side to you".

Lucy blushed and fought down the urge to retort with a scathing remark, "ah…" she reminded herself that he had every reason to think that she was a selfish and spoilt Princess with the way she had acted earlier. It was actually rather embarrassing now she thought back on it.

"I guess I was pretty bad earlier, huh?"

"You stamped your foot."

Lucy laughed awkwardly, those four words had confirmed how childishly she had acted before, "eh heh, sorry about that…"

They stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds with Happy looking rather comically from Lucy to Natsu and then back to Lucy.

Natsu suddenly shrugged and his grin returned back to his face, "well I guess I did almost burn you into ash, so I guess we're even".

"Me acting like an idiot does _not _equal you almost killing me!" Lucy argued, feeling some of her earlier anger returning to her, but she noticed the way his eyes were dancing and realised he was teasing her, "you're going to be the death of me", she grumbled. Natsu only shrugged again,

"So, what were you doing in my room huh? You weren't going to start trying on my clothes were you?"

Lucy decided she wasn't at all surprised by the fact that he had asked this question with a completely straight face, "why on earth would I want to try on your clothes?"

"I dunno, isn't that something girls like to do?"

"Yes, but girls clothes! Girls clothes! I can assure you, I'm not remotely interested in your limited wardrobe!"

"Oh really?…anyway, Gray's gone back to the Guild and said he was going to come back in about a week with some of the girls and they'll probably bring some clothes for you".

Lucy frowned for a moment, not understanding what he was talking about and then she realised, "what so I have to stay in this for a whole week?" she wrinkled her nose in disgust as she fingered the dress she was wearing, "that is disgusting…" she mumbled under her breath. Sure, when she was asleep she had not minded wearing the same thing day in and day out, but now she was awake she preferred to have clothes to change into every day. Natsu grinned cheekily at her,

"Bet my 'limited wardrobe' is looking pretty good right now, huh?"

"Quiet dragon boy," she growled, knowing he was teasing her once again. She wondered why he liked to do it so much. Happy suddenly yawned loudly and hopped on top of the large bed that dominated most of the room, obviously planning on getting some sleep. All the fatigue that Lucy had racked up due to her exploration of the castle all day suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks and she felt like she would fall asleep at any moment.

"Anyway, I'm not in the mood to argue with you any longer…can you just take me back to me room please, so I can get some sleep?"

"Take you to your room?"

"Yes!" Lucy huffed, "or do you really expect me to walk around this pitch black castle trying to find my room?"

"No, it's not that, it's just…" he stopped talking and grabbed Lucy's wrist before dragging her out into the dark hallway, "your room is right there…" he said, pointing directly across the hall from his own room, "I uh…I fixed your door from earlier and brought a new bed up from one of the other rooms…"

Lucy wanted to punch herself for her foolishness, her own room had been seconds away this whole time and she had resorted to sitting in his room? Instead she shook her head and gave Natsu a brief grateful smile, "thank you Natsu, goodnight". She stepped across the hallway quickly and entered her own domain, closing her door tightly behind her.

Within minutes of stripping herself from the confines of the tight dress she had been wearing and jumping into bed, she was fast asleep. Though not before wondering why Natsu's room was so close to her own.

* * *

**A/N: **Aw, I love Happy, he is just a fun character in general. Anyway, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING SO FAR OH MY GOD! I think there's 57 reviews so far, I am so happy, so please keep reviewing!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 5

Shirtless as usual, Gray Fullbuster strolled into his home away from home, the Guild they proudly called, _Fairy Tail_. As soon as he stepped through the threshold he had to duck to avoid a flying table. A grin spread over his face as he ducked out of the way of a few glass bottles as he made his way to the bar, it felt good to be home. He sidled into his usual seat at the bar, ignoring Cana's drunken slur of,

"Gray…your clothes…" and waited patiently for the kindly barmaid to notice his presence. He didn't have to wait long, after about two minutes of sitting there Mirajane walked out of the kitchen holding a fresh batch of newly cleaned glasses,

"Gray, you're back!" she squealed happily, depositing the glasses on a nearby surface and then moving to sit opposite him from her end of the bar. She loved all the Guild members, they were like the extended family she had never asked for, but Gray, and a few others, were amongst her favourites as she had grown up with them. Unbeknownst to Gray or Mirajane, a blue head had snapped up at the mention of "Gray" and the owner of said head was quickly making her way to where he was sitting.

"Hey Mira, you cool?" he asked, gratefully accepting the cup full of ice she had produced out of nowhere to hand to him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, but how are you? You had a tough mission, how did it go?"

Gray waved his hand dismissively, "pfft, it was a piece of cake," he lied, not bothering to tell Mira how he had narrowly escaped the clutches of several large trolls with his life, "anyway, I'll tell you about it later, right now I've got something more important to talk to you about".

Mira raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his change of tone, normally Gray was very laid back about life and it was rare that he would become serious about something. She scooted closer to him in her chair.

"Okay, so I went to check on Natsu, y'know make sure he hadn't burnt down the castle yet".

Mira nodded with a small smile tweaking her lips, when Natsu had first accepted the job as the guardian of the Princess, they had all taken bets on how long it would take for Natsu to burn down the castle.

"And we got into our usual fight, and…well…he accidentally woke up the Princess!"

Mira's mouth dropped open in a comical "O" shape at the news that Natsu had completely bungled up his mission and had woken her up. To be honest, she wasn't all that surprised as they had all expected him to do something to mess it up a long time ago, it was actually quite an amazing feat that this hadn't happened years ago.

"How on earth did he wake her up? I thought it was supposed to be Prince?"

"He accidentally kissed her, but never mind that right now, can you keep this a secret, I don't want Master knowing and-"

"What do you not want Master to know, Gray?" an ominous and extremely frightening voice barked out from behind him, "and where, pray tell, are your clothes?"

In a flash, Gray was once again wearing all his clothing, nobody had the power to make him move as quickly as this one woman did.

"Ah, Erza!" he yelped, his voice rising a few octaves as he stared at the red haired armoured woman, "I…I thought you had a mission!"

"It has been completed. Now, I will not ask you again, what are you planning on hiding from Master. I cannot allow deception in this Guild".

Gray gulped, he hadn't wanted everyone to find out about this because it would surely cause Natsu to get into a lot of trouble, but he preferred Natsu in trouble than Erza beating him into a pulp for hiding something from her.

"Oh shush Erza and sit down," Mira said, unfazed by Erza's demeanour, Gray had to hand it to her, she was braver than he. Erza hesitated for a fraction of a second before roughly tugging the bar stool next to Gray and plunking down on it, her armour clattering away as she settled herself on the stool.

"I have sat down, now I demand you two tell me what you are conspiring against Master!"

"Nobodies conspiring" Mira giggled, rolling her eyes, "we've just found ourselves in a little predicament that we would rather Master not knowing about. I'm sure you've done things you wouldn't want to tell Master?"

Erza rigidly shook her head, "of course not. I pride myself on the fact that I have never brought shame upon our Guild or on our Master's name. This includes hiding things from him. Whatever shameful act you two have done, I suggest you admit it freely before I-"

"Nobodies done anything _shameful_!" Gray growled, wondering just what situation Erza was imagining in her head, "_we _haven't even done anything. It's about Natsu".

"Ah", Erza said simply, she had been waiting for over a decade to hear that the pink haired boy had messed up in his mission somehow, in fact she was rather surprised that he had managed to succeed for so long, "what has he done? Burned down the castle? Killed the Princess?"

"Worse," Mira said, "he's woken her up!"

"Natsu woke up the Princess?" an awestruck voice suddenly said, causing Gray, Mirajane, and Erza to turn around and find Levy sitting on the barstool on the other side of Gray, " wow, how'd he manage that? Actually, I'm surprised he managed so long without messing up…"

Mira and Erza both nodded their heads with what Levy had just said, they had all been thinking it a few minutes prior. Gray just groaned and grabbed Levy and Erza by their shoulders, pulling them into a tight little circle.

"Right, I don't want anyone else knowing about this, it's bad enough that this many people know already, okay so-"

"Ah Gray-sama….Juvia also knows about Natsu-san. Should Juvia also get in the circle?"

Gray growled loudly and helped Juvia up from her hiding place directly under his barstool, not even bothering to ask how she had gotten herself under there without him noticing, he was far too used to Juvia's eccentric ways now to even care.

_Gray-sama is touching Juvia! _Juvia squealed in her mind as Gray scooted over to allow Juvia space in their circle.

"Okay!" he said once more, "this is _it_. If anyone else finds out, I'm just going to kill them"

Erza began to titter her disapproval but Gray noticed and hurriedly carried on speaking, "like I said, the idiot accidentally woke the Princess up -_it doesn't matter how-" _he said, upon noticing that Levy was opening her mouth to ask the question.

"I do not understand why we must keep Master from knowing about this", Erza said, with half a mind to march up to their Master and tell him.

"Because, look me and Natsu don't have the best relationship…"

"Understatement of the year…"

"Yes, yes…anyway, he's been on this mission for how long now?"

"Almost fourteen years!" Mira chirped helpfully.

"Yeah fourteen years, I'm just saying, I know _I _would hate to have been at a mission for so long only to have it fail and Master take it away from me."

The four women nodded in agreement, knowing they would each feel the same way if something like that happened to them.

"I know she's meant to be asleep, but the way I see it, Natsu can still do his mission even with her awake. All he's gotta do is beat up a few guys, what she's doing shouldn't affect that at all, got it?"

"I get it…but why did you bother even telling me in the first place?" Mira asked with a frown on her face. Gray blushed a tiny bit,

"Because, well the Princess needs clothes and uh…I thought you were about her size, so uh…I don't know, I was going to ask if you could buy her some clothes and then come with me to bring them to her, I don't think she'll appreciate staying in that dress the whole time…"

"Gray-sama is so thoughtful!" Juvia breathed reverently.

Mira and Levy both squealed excitedly at the prospect of a shopping trip, "of course I'll do that Gray, plus I'd like to meet the Princess," Mira said, wondering what this mysterious Princess would look like.

"When do you want us to go to the castle?" Levy asked, already picturing in her mind the perfect outfit she had seen for a Princess when she had gone shopping the previous day.

"I told Natsu I'd be back in a week, so you've got a week to get all the stuff she'll need to survive. Bearing in mind that we don't know how long it'll take for a Prince to come that can actually beat Natsu".

Mira and Levy nodded once more before drifting a bit further down the bar to start writing a list of items they would need to buy. Gray turned to Erza,

"So that's it, we're gonna go down there in a week, you can come if you want, but there's not really any need now I've got Levy and Mira."

Erza shook her head, "no, I shall accompany you. It has been far too long since I last saw Natsu and he has made a mistake, I believe he needs a reminder of how I like things run in Fairy Tail".

Gray gulped and began to fear for Natsu. Then he turned to Juvia who suddenly turned a deep shade of red when his eyes landed on her own,

"Are you gonna come Juvia?"

"If…If Gray-sama does not mind Juvia accompanying him, Juvia will come!"

Gray grinned slightly at her awestruck tone of voice, he had never understood the strange fascination this blue haired woman had over him, and although at first he had been creeped out by it, now he had slowly come to appreciate it and even enjoyed her company. After a few more minutes of mindless chatter, he said goodbye to his friends, intent on getting some sleep after his tiresome mission.

Master Makarov watched through one eye as Gray stalked jauntily out of the Guild, then his eyes darted over to where Levy and Mira were excitedly writing items down on a piece of paper, then to Juvia who was clutching onto her rapidly beating heart after having such a long conversation with Gray, and then finally to Erza who was staring at him. He gave Erza one quick nod and closed his eyes once more. _Foolish children_, he snorted in his mind, _trying to hide things from me…when will they learn?_

_

* * *

_

The week in which she waited for Gray to return with her clothes passed excruciatingly slowly and she found that she had slipped into a rather boring pattern. She would wake up, usually from the sunlight glare from the large window, but on one occasion she awoke to find a dead fish on the pillow next to hers. He eyes narrowed even now as she remembered that morning. It had been a "present" Happy had insisted in a hurt tone of voice as she viciously chucked the smelly fish into a bin, ordering Happy never to give her any more presents. After she had woken up she would then bathe, brush her teeth, comb her hair and then squeamishly pull on the dress she had worn the previous day. She was beginning to worry that she smelt, especially after lunch on Wednesday where she had ended up spilling soup all the way down her front, leaving a smelly orange stain. After getting dressed she would then wander to the kitchen to fix herself breakfast, Natsu and Happy would stroll in moments afterwards. Out of politeness she would always make enough for them, but she couldn't help feeling like cooking for him made her seem like his wife or something of the sort. She would then say goodbye to her new companions and explore more of the castle for the rest of the day. She had done this every day that week and she was beginning to tire of her monotonous routine. It was Saturday now and she was fed up. She was fed up of walking around in the same, smelly and stained dress. She was fed up of walking around the castle alone in silence. She was fed up of doing nothing. The only highlight of her week had been when a Prince had arrived to slay the Dragon. She had gotten her hopes up that she would finally be able to leave, but about an hour after the Prince had arrived, Natsu had sauntered casually back to his room, letting her know that she would still be here for a bit longer.

"Natsu?" she asked the pink haired boy who was currently sitting hunched over a large plate of breakfast that she had made for them.

"Hmmfffffpphp?" he spluttered, spitting bits of toast in her direction. She narrowed her eyes at him, and waited patiently for him to gulp down the inhuman portion of food he had stuffed into his mouth, "uh, sorry…yeah Lucy?" he said once his mouth was empty.

"I wanted to ask, what exactly do you do around here all day? I only see you at meals and then you disappear off somewhere."

"Oh that, I go to train in the forest. Gotta make sure I can beat all the Princes who come for you, y'know?"

"Oh," she said lamely, that made sense, she bit her lip nervously before continuing, "could I…could I perhaps come with you today? It's just, it gets boring being here alone all day, so don't start thinking it's because I enjoy your company!" she added quickly after noticing the grin Natsu had started to get on his face. He said nothing, but nodded before enthusiastically digging back into his breakfast.

Lucy couldn't help but grin slightly, maybe today would be an interesting day.

* * *

Because Lucy had decided to join Natsu, Happy was going to stay at the castle and then fly quickly to Natsu to tell him if any people came to fight the dragon. After this had been sorted out, Lucy and Natsu began the decent to Natsu's training place in the large forest that engulfed the grounds of the castle.

They had been walking for quite a while and she was beginning to get nervous. She made sure she stayed close behind him, resisting the urge to grab onto his scarf so she definitely wouldn't get lost.

"Natsu…are you sure this is safe?" she asked worriedly as the safety of the castle began to disappear from her view.

"Safe? Yeah, of course it is, I do it every day don't I?"

Lucy only bit her lip as they carried on walking through the forest in silence. She somehow thought that Natsu's perception of danger was a whole different thing to her own. Still, she carried on with him, for some reason she had a strange level of trust with him that she could not understand, he made her feel safe.

After about ten minutes of walking she began to tire. The flimsy shoes she was wearing were starting to thin, and she was sure she had been bitten by a variety of different bugs as they trekked through the bushy forest. She didn't even want to think about what the brown looking substance was that she had stepped in a while back.

"Natsu are-" she began, before she ran into his hard back and fell backwards a few steps, "for the love of God, warn someone when you're about to stop please!" she hissed, rubbing the sore spot on her nose where she had collided into him.

"Sorry, sorry," he said absently, not really sounding sorry at all, "but we're almost here now, we've just gotta cross this bridge!"

Lucy peered over his shoulder before blanching slightly and waving her hands furiously in front of her face, "nuh-uh! No way am I crossing _that_," she pointed accusingly at the thin and rickety bridge Natsu was telling her to walk across.

Natsu rolled his eyes, "stop being a wimp. You asked if you could come with me, and this is how I get there".

"But why is it so far away, I mean, why couldn't you train right here?"

"I didn't want to risk burning the forest down, so I found a place with just pure rock and a stream nearby…" he grinned a little, "actually Erza found it for me because _she _didn't want me burning down the forest, but that's beside the point. Are you coming or not?"

"I'll stay here thank you very much", she huffed, setting herself down on a damp rock, she had considered going back to the castle, but she knew that she would get lost in an instance.

"Fine…but watch out, there are a few bears that wander around here, and if you get killed I don't get paid remember?"

Lucy growled angrily as she quickly stood up and barged past him,

"Fine, I'll come with you! But I'm going first", she put a tentative foot on the bridge and was relieved to find that it seemed able to hold her wait, "I'm not having you walk across, then for it to snap under your weight while I'm halfway across it!"

"Whatever, can you just hurry up and go?"

Lucy sniffed angrily at him before turning around a beginning to walk across the bridge. She had made it no more than three steps when she felt something heavy behind her. Whipping around, she saw that Natsu was standing casually behind her.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, wishing she could punch him, but fearing that sudden movements would cause the bridge to collapse.

"I'm walking across the bridge…"

"Are you a complete idiot, or do you just take pleasure in annoying me? This thing can't possibly hold both our weights, get off it quickly!"

"Sure it can, me and Happy do this all the time."

"HAPPY IS A CAT! Now get off this now, or so help me God, Natsu I will turn you into Dragon Stew the moment we get back to the castle!"

Natsu stared at her for a second, a flash of amusement shooting through his eyes before he shrugged and moved to turn around, "I don't see what the problem is, this bridge is as sturdy as anything," as if to prove his point, he began jumping on the edge of the bridge.

"Natsu, NO-" Lucy shrieked, but it was too late, with a sickening snap, the thick wire that had been holding the bridge to the cliff on the other side snapped off and the bridge began swinging downwards. Before she squeezed her eyes shut to avoid seeing her impending death, she noticed that Natsu had managed to jump back onto the cliff just before the bridge snapped.

_Well at least we don't both have to die…_

"LUCY!"

She clutched onto the side of the bridge as it swung downwards, slamming her body against the rock of the Cliffside, she could feel her dress tearing away as her body scraped along the cliff. She was glad that she wasn't dead though. Yet.

"Lucy! Lucy! Luce, gimme your hand!"

She slowly opened a bleary eye and glanced upwards, thankfully she hadn't fallen that far and could clearly see Natsu hanging over the edge of the cliff with a tanned arm pointing towards her. She resolutely shook her head,

"If I let go, I'm going to fall!"

Natsu groaned, "I won't let you fall, just trust me!"

She shook her head again, she couldn't do it. She couldn't let go of the rope, that would only mean plummeting towards her death down below.

"Please Lucy, you have to trust me. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, I promise!"

There was something in his voice that compelled her to listen to him, and for a moment she truly did believe that he would never let anything hurt her. Taking a shaky breath she shut her eyes once more…and let go of the rope. Her mouth opened in preparation for a scream as she felt her body drop a couple centimetres, and then she felt something warm grab a hold of her own sweaty hand. She heaved a heavy sigh of relief as Natsu swung her body over the edge, causing her to land on top of him. Once she had regained her breath she quickly got off of him, trying to ignore the way his and her own cheeks had reddened at the breath contact.

"Thank you for saving me", she said quietly after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah well…I did almost kill you," Natsu replied, as if he were determined to put her in a bad mood. He succeeded. Lucy practically growled as she stood up and attempted to march over towards him and perhaps push _him _off the cliff.

"Natsu Dragneel, you are quite honestly the - _ouuuuuuch!" _she yelled in pain and immediately fell to the floor, causing Natsu's eyes to widen in fear before he ran over to her.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Ah, I think I sprained my ankle when I got banged against the wall," she moaned, trying in vain to stand up once again.

"What the hell are you doing?" Natsu asked, hooking his arm around her waist to help her up.

"I'm standing up obviously, we need to get back to the castle".

"But…you can't walk without hurting your ankle."

"I'll manage," she said grimly, hoping that if she didn't think of the pain then she wouldn't feel it, "anyway- woaah, what are _you _doing?"

Natsu had scooped her up from her position on the ground, and then shifted her so she was clinging to his back. Instinctively she had wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"You can't walk, so I'm gonna carry you, duh…"

He ignored her squeals of protests and proceeded to walk through the forest, seemingly remembering the exact way they had came. After a final huff of protest she fell silent and thanked God that Natsu could not see her burning red face at the close contact they were having with one another. Little did she know, Natsu was also doing the same thing.

* * *

The silent walk back to the castle was actually rather nice, it was not an awkward one, more of a comfortable silence, so she was quite surprised when she heard a loud shriek once they stepped foot on castle grounds. She peeked over Natsu's shoulder and saw five people and a cat staring at them, It appeared that a pretty white haired woman had done the shrieking as she was the one who spoke again,

"Natsu, what on EARTH have you been doing to the Princess?"

"Yes Natsu, what _have _you been doing?" a red haired woman asked dangerously, her fingers skimming lightly over the sword in her sheath. Lucy frowned for a moment before taking in the situation. She and Natsu had just come back from a secluded location. They were both sweaty and out of breath. Her clothes were torn in several inappropriate places, and he was carrying her on his back. Not to mention her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist.

_Oh dear, _Lucy thought in her mind.

_Ah fuck, _Natsu thought in his.

"This isn't what it looks like!" they both blurted out at the same time.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry but I couldn't stop myself writing after I finished chapter 4 teehee . I like this chapter, especially the beginning, the Guild characters are really fun to write! Okay well, review please you lovely reviewers :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 6

"He didn't do anything inappropriate, I promise!" Lucy assured the strange women for at least the fifth time since they had quickly ushered her into the castle. The angry looking lady with long red hair stayed outside with Natsu and Gray, so Lucy was left to the mercy of two women with blue hair, and one with long silver hair.

"You're sure? I mean, I know he wouldn't do it on purpose, but still…it was a rather compromising position you two were in…" the silver haired woman spoke with her back turned to Lucy. She was currently rifling through one of four huge bags they had brought with them.

"He didn't do anything," Lucy said firmly, "he was just being an idiot and got us into a bad situation, that's all".

"Ah, that sounds like Natsu," one of the blue haired woman giggled, she then noticed Lucy staring at her curiously and she stuck out a small hand, "oh, I'm Levy McGarden by the way. I'm honoured to meet you, Princess!" she then did a small little curtsy that had Lucy blushing.

"Oh um, ah…you don't need to call me Princess you know? Just Lucy is fine…"

Levy's eyes widened and she bowed once more before squealing, "thank you your majesty! Er, I mean…thank you Lucy!"

Lucy smiled, she was eager to make friends with these people, perhaps if they liked her they would visit often and she would have others for company apart from just Natsu. She turned to the second blue haired woman and gave her a bright smile.

"Hello!" she said brightly, extending a hand towards her. The blue haired woman stared at her hand for a moment before frowning as she took it gingerly,

"I am Juvia," she said curtly before dropping her hand and turning away from Lucy. Lucy frowned and turned to Levy to ask her what she had done wrong, Levy only laughed,

"Ignore Juvia, she probably thinks you're a threat or something".

"A threat?"

"Lucy-san is trying to steal Gray-sama from Juvia!" Juvia suddenly hissed before whipping around and pointing accusingly at Lucy, "why else would Gray-sama insist on bringing clothes for Lucy-san? Lucy-san and Juvia are from now on, _rivals!_"

"R-rivals?" Lucy squeaked, "no, no, n_o_, I don't like Gray! He was just doing Natsu a favour by bringing me clothes…really, I-"

A cool hand landed on her shoulder and Lucy turned around to see the silver haired woman shaking her head in an amused fashion,

"Don't worry about Juvia, Lucy. She get's like this every now and then, she'll warm to you soon enough!"

"But I haven't even done anything!"

"You have stolen Gray-sama's attention," Juvia wailed, "how does Lucy-san do it? Juvia cannot do it, and yet Lucy-san can!"

"Juvia, why don't you go find Gray and ask them to start putting some lunch on for us, and we'll help Lucy with her clothes, okay?" Levy said in a pleasant tone of voice. At the mention of Gray, Juvia nodded and left the room, not before shooting Lucy a suspicious glance.

"Aw, Lu-chan, you look traumatised," Levy commented after Juvia had left the room, "don't worry about her, once she realises you don't pose any threat to her she'll be fine with you". Lucy felt a small shiver of happiness travel up her body at the nickname Levy had given her. It reminded her of the time where Natsu had called her "Luce", but not as strong.

"But surely that sort of behaviour isn't healthy? I mean…that was kinda obsessive wasn't it?"

Levy and the silver haired woman both shrugged, clearly her behaviour wasn't something that bothered them anymore.

"Are you telling me that Gray doesn't mind?"

The silver haired woman grinned slyly, "eheh, I don't think he minds. If you ask me, I think he likes it and even encourages it…but that's just me! I'm Mirajane by the way," she shot Lucy a beaming smile, that Lucy couldn't help but return, like it was contagious.

Lucy contemplated what she had just said, she didn't understand how anyone could enjoy such stalkerish behaviour, but then again, she had been asleep for a while and she supposed times must have changed.

"Come on then, let's get these clothes on Lu-chan…ooh try this on!"

"No this one!"

Lucy smiled weakly as the two young women began fighting over which t-shirt she would look best in. As a child she had lived a very sheltered, she _was _a Princess after all, so she had never had the opportunity to make many friends. She had never really minded for she had enough toys and trinkets to keep her entertained, but now as she looked back on her life she realised she had missed out a lot. She had only been in the company of Mira and Levy for less than an hour, but already she could feel a lifelong bond growing.

* * *

"Ah Erza that _hurt_!" Natsu growled angrily, rubbing the growing lump on his head where Erza had whacked him with the butt of her sword. Erza merely sniffed,

"You deserved it. I believe I told you there would be repercussions if you messed up this mission, did I not?"

"I didn't mess up the mission, Lucy's perfectly fine, she's just awake. Big deal!"

Erza sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead, why was she cursed with such foolish team mates?

"Idiot," she hissed, "Princess Lucy is awake now, that means that all the protective enchantments Master placed upon this castle after hereby _void_. Should Hades want to waltz up to the castle and take her back at this very moment, there would be nothing to stop him."

"I'd stop him," Natsu mumbled, but quietly enough that Erza did not hear.

"This means that the level of difficulty for this job has increased ten fold. Not only do you have to defeat prospective Princes, you also have to make sure that none of these Princes even see Princess Lucy. If they see her there is a chance that Hades will find out that she is awake and will come for her. Do you understand?"

Natsu furrowed his brow, "I don't see what the big deal is. If this Hades guy comes, I'll just beat him as well".

This time Gray sighed, "you don't have the power to beat a guy like Hades, idiot".

"Oh yeah?" Natsu sat up in his seat and grabbed Gray by the shirt, "are you calling me weak?"

Gray narrowed his eyes and retaliated by grabbing Natsu's shirt, "ye-"

"ENOUGH!"

"AYE!" Gray and Natsu both squeaked, returning back to their seats with fake smiles plastered over their faces after seeing Erza's angry face.

"Natsu, I do not think you understand the severity of the situation. Gray is right, alone you do not have the power to stop Hades, it would be dangerous for you to even try-"

Natsu raised a solemn hand to stop Erza from speaking, an oddly serious look was flitting over his face, "Erza…Gray…I get that you're worried, I messed up….but you have to trust that I'm not going to let anything hurt Lucy," he slammed his hand down on the table and clenched his fist, "I'll protect her with my life if I have too."

Erza and Gray sat in a stunned silence at his words. After a few moments, Erza smiled slightly, it seemed that Natsu was growing up.

"I must admit, it's nice to see you taking a mature approached to something for once."

Natsu just shrugged, not wanting to say that he had become attached to the Princess. He wasn't even sure how it had happened, she had been fast asleep for the majority of the time he had known her, but over the years he had developed a fierce over protectiveness of her and he would be damned if anyone hurt her while he was in charge of her.

* * *

"Eh heh, isn't this a bit short?" Lucy asked worriedly as she twisted and turned in her full length mirror, "I mean…it doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it?"

Mira and Levy had tipped out the large bag full of clothes for Lucy and had eventually forced an outfit onto the blonde princess. It was simple outfit, just a simple blue pleated along with a blue and white vest top. She couldn't help but blush as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, the skirt was incredibly short and the vest strained against her rather large breasts, and she was forced to leave a few buttons open so she could breathe. Never had she imagined wearing such provocative clothing. As a child she was always kept in prim and proper dresses that covered practically every inch of her tiny body, and when she had been put to sleep she had been kept in those sort of style of dresses. Wearing a dress that didn't come down to her ankles was a new experience for her. She snuck a glance at Mira who was snickering good naturedly, she was wearing the type of dress Lucy had assumed she would be given. It was a dark pink, very long, but was still stylish enough to leave a decent amount of cleavage showing. Levy wore a short long sleeved orange dress, but also wore a pair of brown leggings to hide her legs. Compared to her two new companions, Lucy felt practically naked.

"Um, didn't you get me anything similar to your dress, Mira? Or even Levy's?"

Mira waved a dismissive hand, "what, of course not! My style would definitely not suit you, you're young after all…"

Lucy raised an eyebrow, wondering just how much older Mira was to herself.

"…anyway, you look fabulous in that outfit, it really suits you!"

"Yeah Lu-chan, I didn't know you had so many _curves_, I'm jealous!" Levy said with a sad smile on her face, being surrounded by women with such generous assets got a bit depressing after a while. Lucy bit her bottom lip, trying to ignore the fact that essentially, both women were ogling her right now, and glanced back at her reflection in the mirror. She struck a pose.

"I…I guess…it doesn't look _too _bad," she admitted, her lips turning upwards in a small smirk, she had to agree that the clothes fit her perfectly and in the back of her mind, she sneakily admitted to herself that she did like the shortness of it all, it made her feel normal rather than a Princess locked away in the tower, though she would never admit this to anyone.

"You're gonna have all the guys going wild," Mira commented appreciatively.

"Not Gray-sama I hope…" a frosty voice called out, and they realised that Juvia had taken this opportunity to walk back into the room.

"A-ah of course not!" Lucy squeaked, waving her hands wildly in her front of her to avoid Juvia's cold stare, "I don't want _any _attention from boys, I'm waiting for my Prince, remember? I mean…who else would I get it from? Natsu?" she snorted his name, even if she _wanted _to get any sort of attention from Natsu, she highly doubted he had the mental capacity to understand her flirting, he just didn't seem like the type to get those sort of things. Mira only waggled her eyebrows,

"You never know…it's mainly just you and Natsu, locked away in this far away castle together. _Alone_. Something's bound to happen!"

Lucy was at a loss for words at Mira's insinuation and instead turned a bright and turned around quickly so they wouldn't be able to see her embarrassment.

"Ne Mira, stop teasing Lu-chan!" Levy scolded lightly, "Natsu's great and everything, but she literally has Princes begging for her hand in marriage, why would she pick Natsu?"

"O-oi! Natsu isn't _that _bad- eh?" Lucy yelped as the words escaped her mouth before she could even think about it, she didn't even know where it had came from, but she suddenly felt an urge to defend the pink haired dragon boy.

"See! She does like him! She does!" Mira cheered happily, clapping her hands together, "why else would she defend him so quickly, aah this is so romantic. The Princess and the Dragon, it's like some sort of Fairy Tail. Oooh, you two would have such beautiful babi- oomph!"

Levy had wisely clamped her hand over Mira's rambling mouth and she shot Lucy and apologetic look,

"Soory Lu-chan, Mira likes to think of herself as some sort of matchmaker," she turned her attention back to Mira who at least had the decency to look sheepish, "have you forgotten what happened last time you tried to play Cupid?"

Mira blushed and Juvia began scowling, "that wasn't _my _fault! All the signs pointed that Gray liked Erza! They've been best friends since they were children, it was misleading!"

"Dark times…dark, dark times," Juvia began muttering, "poor Gray-sama, Juvia stayed by his side in the hospital for weeks!"

Lucy's eyebrows rose at the mention of Hospital, and she wondered what on Earth had happened between Gray and Erza for him to end up in the Hospital.

"No more matchmaking," Levy said sternly, "Lu-chan wants a Prince, not Natsu".

Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Fine, fine, fine," Mira grumbled, though with a smile on her face, "nobody ever lets me have my fun."

"Because more often that not, it's not fun for anyone else! Anyway, shall we go find the boys and Erza, I'm _starving_," Levy said happily, hopping up from her seat and making her way to the door.

Lucy followed the peppy blue haired Mage, her thoughts still on her sudden outburst of defending Natsu. Did she like him? She immediately shook that thought out of her mind, she barely knew the boy, liking him was impossible. She could barely tolerate him. Still, she knew she hadn't been lying when she said he wasn't that bad…sighing she shook all thoughts of him out of her mind.

* * *

Seeing Natsu speechless wasn't a feat most people had the opportunity to see. Normally the boy was running his mouth at 100 miles an hour and the only thing that could get him to stop was a swift kick in the gut from Erza. But now, he was speechless. His mouth was slack and opened, his hand was frozen in midair and he was simply staring.

The girls had entered the kitchen, intent on getting something to eat. Natsu had been rummaging around in the fridge and hadn't seen them as they entered, he heard Erza, Gray, and Happy's reaction though.

"Princess, you look wonderful", Erza gushed, to which Lucy thanked her but begged that she just call her plain old Lucy.

"You look really good Lucy, much better than the dress you were wearing before," Gray shot her an appreciative glance. Lucy laughed nervously, all too aware that Juvia was not going to be happy with that.

"He _liiiikes _you!" Happy trilled as Gray words, ignoring the splutters both Gray and Lucy made, and the scowl Juvia was sending towards Lucy.

Natsu took this opportunity to turn around and see what all the fuss was about, and promptly dropped the tub of spaghetti he was holding.

"Natsu!" Erza scolded, but he took no notice.

"Lucy…" he breathed, his eyes travelling up the creamy expanse of her uncovered slim legs, past the short skirt that hung low on her hips revealing a small bit of stomach, up her chest that was covered by the vest top that accentuated her breasts, along her long neck that was only empathised by the fact that she was wearing her hair down so it framed her features. After an excruciatingly long time, his eyes made it to her face. She too was staring at him with nervous eyes and a blush staining her cheeks.

"N-Na-Natsu?" she stuttered, fingers gripping the bottom of her skirt nervously. For some reason she felt a strange urge to get his approval, none of the others would matter if he rejected it.

Natsu swallowed thickly, suddenly aware that everyone was staring at him in confusion, and tore his eyes away from her.

"Uh, what?" he asked gruffly. Lucy's turned away from him and sat down on the table, her eyes suddenly downcast. She was upset and she didn't even know why. Why should she care about his approval?

"Natsu? Do you like Lucy's clothes?" Mira asked, as she too took a seat next to her, "she looks great doesn't she?"

Natsu ambled to the table and placed their lunch on the large plate in the middle so they could all dig in, "mhm, she looks fine," he muttered in a non committed manner, not wanting to admit that when he had looked at her, she had sent his heart racing.

_What the hell is wrong with me_?

* * *

**A/N: **Hm yes Natsu, what is wrong with you? Muahahaha :)

vell, I hope you liked it, or are still continuing to like it, I finished planning everything out earlier so now I know exactly where everything is going to go, I just need to write it all now ^_^


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 7

She wasn't sure why, but the awkwardness of her already odd relationship with Natsu seemed to have increased ten fold by the time Gray and the others left that evening.

She had had a lot of fun, even as a child she could not remember at time where she had laughed and smiled as much as she had done in the company of the Fairy Tail Mages. The boys quickly got into a fight, one the was squashed by Erza just as quickly. Whilst they were busy rubbing their wounds, Lucy got to know Mira, Erza, Levy, and Juvia a bit better. The only word Lucy could find to describe Erza was; _scary_. But not necessarily in a bad way. With her long fiery red hair, armour, and swords she kept close to her waist she reminded Lucy a little bit of a Demon, and she most definitely had the attitude to match. Although she could admit that she had not known Natsu for a long time, but she got the distinct impression that he was not someone who could be easily calmed. Lucy shuddered as she remembered how Erza had merely said,

"_Natsu…"_

And the pink haired boy had yelped, "AYE!" before saluting her and sitting back in his seat. It was rather unsettling that someone could have so much power over someone else, but Lucy also wanted to find out had Erza managed it. Hey, it could come in handy one day. Mirajane seemed to be a complete opposite to Erza. Lucy quickly found out that the two of them were the mother type figures of Fairy Tail. Erza was the harsh, but still caring mother, and Mira was the kindly and fiercely protective mother. Once Juvia was certain that Lucy posed no real threat towards her, she became much more pleasant and Lucy was sure she'd have a good friendship with the Water Mage. However, out of all the new people she met that day, she had to say that Levy was her favourite. The blue haired Mage was kind hearted, funny, and Lucy found that she had a passion for books. As a child, Lucy had looked forward to the hour every night where her mother had read to her and she hadn't realised how much she missed the feeling of having a good book read to her.

"_Ah, don't worry Lu-chan, next time I come down, I'll bring you a bunch of my favourite books, that sound good?"_

Lucy had nodded happily, not only because Levy would be bringing her some books to read, but because she was definitely planning on coming back. They were _all _planning on coming back to visit her. The feeling of friendship and belonging was overwhelming and she was embarrassed to admit that she struggled to hold back a few tears when the time come to finally say goodbye.

She had noticed that Natsu seemed a bit off during their visit, but due to the excitement of meeting these new friends, she hadn't paid much attention to it. Now they were alone again, Happy had decided to go back to the Guild to see someone called Charle, Lucy could no longer pretend to ignore that her usually happy Dragon looked downright depressed.

"Um, Natsu-" she began after sitting in an awkward silence with him for far too long, but he either didn't hear her or was deliberately ignoring her for he suddenly stood up and walked briskly to the door,

"I'm gonna take a nap, see ya Lucy," he grunted over his shoulder before slamming the door shut and leaving Lucy to sit alone in the kitchen.

Lucy sat stunned for a few moments but eventually the look of shock on her face turned into a heavy scowl and she too stood up abruptly and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door harder than he done in her wake.

"Stupid Natsu," she grumbled as she traipsed angrily through the castle, "now nobody can say that I'm not trying to be nice to him!"

She had hoped, that with the arrival of his friends, perhaps they would be able to start a friendship between themselves, but obviously she was wrong. Natsu clearly wanted nothing to do with her.

"I don't want anything to do with him anyway!" she hissed angrily, trying to ignore the feeling of hurt that she felt somewhere in her gut. Not for the first time, she wished there was someone else in the castle with them. She fervently wished that she had stopped Happy from leaving, maybe the blue haired cat would be able to shed some light on Natsu's sudden bout of moodiness.

Lucy sighed loudly before deciding to push all thoughts of Natsu out of her mind. She was on the fifth floor now and was standing outside the room to the swimming pool. She learnt from Levy and the others the swimming pool was perfectly clean and ready for usage, and was maintained by magic like the rest of the castle - which also explained why all the kitchens were in perfect stock.

"Right!" she huffed determinedly, running back to the room where she had left the clothes that had been brought for her. Mira had mentioned that they bought her a few swimming costumes for when she wanted a swim, and right now…she couldn't think of anything better to take her mind off the pink haired idiot she was lodging with.

* * *

_A small pink haired boy sniffled lightly as he ran quickly through the darkening corridors. He wanted go get to his room quickly before it got too dark. He winced as the shallow cut on his arm oozed a bit of blood. It didn't hurt that badly, he supposed it was the shock of actually being injured that had made him start crying. He was seven years old and he'd only been on guard duty for the Princess for two years, but in those two years he had never been injured. It was laughable that a five year old had the power to stop full grown men who specialised in fighting. But somehow he had done it. He supposed much of that was due to the fact that the various Princes underestimated him, he was young after all, and so did not pay much attention to him as they were expecting a full grown dragon to pop out soon. He always used that to his advantage and managed to knock them out before they actually realised they were being attacked by him._

_The most recent Prince to attack was more difficult. He tried to kill Natsu the moment he saw him, meaning he couldn't use his normal element of surprise attack on him. Natsu had won of course, but he had cut his arm and was punched in the gut pretty hard. He didn't often wish this, but he in his moment of weakness he found himself wishing that Erza or Lisanna or even Gray was with him. It wasn't a nice feeling to be injured in a big castle all alone. He felt weak. He was lonely. He needed someone to be with him._

_A crash of thunder erupted in the distance and he jumped a bit, feeling extremely scared now. He was almost at his room now, just a few more steps and-_

_He stopped in the corridor and stared at the door opposite his own. Her room. He very rarely entered her room. Although he knew she was alive, she reminded him of a dead body and it creeped him out a little bit to know she was just lying there, unable to move. A feeling of curiosity swept over his small body and he took the necessary steps towards her door and pushed it open before he chickened out. He wasn't too sure what he was scared about, he realised as he stepped into the room and got a good look at the Princess._

"_She looks so peaceful…" he mused as he stepped closer towards her sleeping frame. However, as he stepped closer and actually reached her bed, her calm mask disappeared and she winced in her sleep. He was sure that if she could have moved, she would've been thrashing around under her covers, as it stood she could only contort her eyebrows and pucker her lips into an almost pained expression._

"_Nightmare?" he asked himself as without warning he stuck his hand out and stroked her hair. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but he somehow knew it was the right thing to do. As soon as his warm hand touched her head her face calmed again and her peaceful expression returned. _

_The thunder boomed outside again, but this time he did not jump in fear, instead he bit his bottom lip and inched closer towards her bed. He was feeling extremely lonely and needed some human contact. Nobody would find out. Right? Before he could convince himself otherwise, he quickly climbed into bed with her. Immediately he felt calmer, although she was asleep he immediately felt safer and happier with her next to him._

"_Thanks," he whispered before he too drifted off into the world of dreams. It became a sort of habit for him after that night. On nights where he felt particularly lonely, he would clamber into bed with the Princess and all his worries would fade away._

_._

_._

_._

Natsu shot out of bed with a growl, with his mind already on the Princess, it wasn't doing wonders for his mood for him to be having dreams about her as well. He blushed a little bit as he recalled the dream. Well, it wasn't so much a dream, more of a memory. Though he didn't know why it had decided to come to the forefront of his mind now. Since he entered puberty he hadn't slept in Lucy's room with her…mainly because he hadn't woken up in time once and Erza had found him like that. The beating he got after that was _horrible _and he didn't particularly want to relive it any time soon.

He sighed as he flopped back down onto his bed, his mind drifting to Lucy again. He didn't know what was wrong with him. Even his routine beating from Erza couldn't kick his mind back to normal. Well if he had to be honest with himself, he knew _exactly _what was wrong with him…Lucy. When she had stepped into the kitchen wearing her new clothes his heart had started to race at a hundred miles and hour and he felt unusually hot, and that was saying a lot seeing as he was a fire dragon Mage. Most people would put it down to the fact that he was seeing a scantily clad pretty young girl, but he knew it wasn't that. He was part of Fairy Tail for goodness sake, there were very few women in his Guild that dressed to cover themselves up, he had seen his fair share of legs, stomachs and breasts. But with Lucy it was something different. Although Happy was not with him, he knew what his reaction to his dilemma would be and he could clearly hear the blue cat's high pitched voice shrilly singing,

"_You liiiiiike her!"_

Natsu scoffed and shook his head at the thought of liking Lucy. Sure, he could admit that she was pretty, he'd have to be blind not to notice that. But he prided himself on not becoming attracted to people purely based on their looks, they needed to have a great personality as well. It wasn't like Lucy was evil or anything, he was sure she was nice girl. But…she was a snobby little Princess and he was a rough housing Dragon just looking to earn some money. They were from two completely different worlds.

Groaning as he stretched his stiff muscles, Natsu swung his legs off the bed and stood up. He decided to push all thoughts of Lucy out of his mind and he knew just the thing to do to get his mind off her. With a grin he reached over his bed and pulled from behind it a pair of dark red swimming shorts.

* * *

She was right. The pool was exactly what she needed to relax. She couldn't swim, learning to swim wasn't something her parents had thought a Princess needed to know, but she quickly found that she could stand up in most of the pool, so she happily splashed and paddled for a while. Eventually, once she tired of splashing in the pool, she waded to the shallowest end and sat down, it was rather relaxing and soothing. As she sat in the pool, she looked down at her body and blushed. She still wasn't used to showing so much skin. Like practically all the outfit's the girls had chosen for her, the five swimming costumes she had be bought were all pretty scanty. The one she was wearing now was a light pink bikini, with little white dogs as a pattern. It was very cute, but also very embarrassing for someone who spent their life in long dresses that covered everything. She whimpered at the thought of her parents finding her in this state of dress and she made a mental note to ask Mira and the others to buy her at least one long dress for when she was rescued.

The pool was big, maybe too big, which is why she didn't notice when Natsu walked into the room. She had her back to the door and didn't see or hear the tell-tale signs of his bare feel slapping against the moist floor. He grinned as he watched Lucy stretch out in the water, obviously feeling highly relaxed. She was probably going to be angry at him for this, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Before she had the chance to move from her place and get to safety, Natsu took a running jump and did a cannonball into the pool. He was immediately submerged under the water so he couldn't see if his target had been adequately splashed, but her answering shriek told him that she had.

"NATSUUUUUUU~ YOU JERK!" Lucy howled as she frantically tried to rub the water out of her eyes. She hadn't notice him enter the room, but she heard him running up to the pool and had guessed what he was going to do. Once she realised his devious plan, she had tried to paddle away but he had been too fast for her and she got soaked.

It appeared that even her most fearsome and deepest scowl did nothing to deter him as he was still laughing at her, even as she stalked closer and closer to him, her fist balling up menacingly.

"HAHA…oh my God, Luce, your face, hahaha!" Natsu laughed, wiping tears from his eyes.

She would've continued to walk towards him, ready to beat him into oblivion for splashing her like that, but something he said stopped her in her tracks, "Luce, huh?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"You just called me, Luce. I assume that means you're talking to me again?" she spat out frostily, not appreciating the sudden mood swing. If he didn't want to be civil with her, that was perfectly fine, but she was _not _going to be some sort of doormat that waited for him to change his mind about their friendship. Natsu looked puzzled,

"When wasn't I talking to you?"

"After everyone left, you were really short tempered and just left, so I thought you weren't talking to me!"

Natsu's mouth dropped into a little "o" shape at her words, but he just shrugged and mumbled, "nah, I was fine…you're probably just imaging it."

Lucy opened her mouth to argue right back that was most certainly not imagining his rude and standoffish behaviour, but she soon found herself distracted by the fact that Natsu had taken this opportunity to start stretching. For the first time since he entered the pool, Lucy found herself distracted by the body of the boy standing in front of her. She gulped as her eyes travelled from his head, and down his toned, muscled, and tanned chest. Having been asleep for such a long time, she had not seen many male chests. Gray's had been the only one she had seen until now, and although she accepted that fact that Gray's body was rather nice…it had nothing on Natsu's. She didn't know whether it was because he really did have an impressive chest, or whether it was because of the pool water which left it glistening, but she could not tear her eyes away from it.

"Pervert".

"Eh?" she managed to stop ogling his chest and drew her eyes back up to his face, where he was staring at her with a mischievous grin on his face.

"W-what did you call me?" she squeaked, feeling the blush rapidly staining her cheeks.

"Pervert…you were staring at me," he paused for a moment and leaned in closer to her face, and for a second she could have sworn that her heart stopped, "like what you see, Luce?"

Yup, her heart had definitely stopped beating.

He took a tiny step closer towards the frozen girl and grinned, "you shouldn't stare at people like that _Princess_," he purred and before she could react to his teasing words he had closed the space between them, wrapped his arms around her waist, hoisted her up in his arms and he began running towards the deepest end of the pool.

"NATSU!" she shrieked, "put me down!"

He only laughed harder, "nah-uh, this is your punishment for perving on me!" he cackled, ignoring her shrieks and pleas to put her down.

"Natsu stop! No stop! I can't swim!" she yelped, clinging to Natsu's front like a cat about to be thrown into water as he finally reached the deepest end of the pool and began to loosen his hold on her. Natsu chuckled, and she had to fight to ignore the nice rumble she felt in his stomach, before taking a few steps backwards with her still in his arms.

"You should've mentioned that before," he said as he set her back down into an area of the pool where her feet could touch the bottom.

Anger coursed through her body at his words and she splashed him violently,

"_Idiot_," she hissed, "why on Earth should I have to mention something like that? What were you doing picking me up like that!" if she didn't know better, she could've sworn he was _flirting _with her, but in the short time since she had known him, she knew him enough to know that flirting wasn't something he was capable of.

Natsu shrugged, "you were perving on me, I had to do something. Dunking you seemed like the best thing. You should feel lucky, when Erza thought she caught me and Gray staring at her in the shower…" he shuddered, "…I don't even want to think about it…"

Lucy frowned, wanting to know what he and Gray were doing in the shower with Erza in the first place, but seemed to decide against it, instead she scowled and muttered, "don't flatter yourself dragon boy, I was _not _ogling you."

"Sure you weren't"

"I wasn't!"

"Sure…"

"You are unbelievable," she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest and shooting him a sharp look, "what are you doing here anyway?"

"It's my pool…just as much as it's yours…"

"No, I mean. Like you're a _fire _dragon, surely swimming isn't good for your health?"

"I'm not made of fire you know," he snorted good naturedly, "I don't have a problem with water if I'm not attacking, I'm fine right now."

"Oh," she shifted uncomfortably on her spot, "well…that's good then." The awkwardness she had felt earlier on was creeping back into the atmosphere, "I…um…well I guess I should be getting back-"

"Want me to teach you?"

"Hmm?"

"To swim…want me to teach you how to swim?"

Lucy rose an eyebrow and looked at his sceptically, "really? You're willing to teach me to swim?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Lucy weighed up the options. Either she flat out said no to him, but he would probably take offence to that. Or she could agree to it. Although she tried to come up with a reason why that would be bad, the only thing she could think of would be that it would be the perfect chance from him to try and kill her, and that didn't make any sense because if she died, he would get no money. She sighed, not really believing she was about to do this.

"Fine, teach me how to swim dragon boy," she muttered, feeling as if she was signing her life away. Silently he waded closer towards her and gently placed his hands on her hips, trying to ignore exactly how nice and soft her skin was underneath his own calloused hands. He heard a sharp intake of breath as he pressed his hands against her hips and he chuckled lightly before leaning in.

"Relax Luce," he breathed against her neck and she gulped thickly, trying to ignore exactly how nice his warm hands felt against her hips, "just lean back and relax".

She nodded weakly and succumbed to his teaching, leaning back against his chest, and putting him in control. She just hoped he didn't drown her.

* * *

"Thank you…for, y'know, teaching me to swim," Lucy said gratefully. They were standing outside her bedroom door now. The swimming session had been mildly successful and she soon found out that Natsu was a pretty good teacher and she could now doggy paddle for about 20 seconds before she panicked and started sinking.

"Nah, it wasn't that big a deal," Natsu grinned before yawning loudly, "but I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Night Luce," he yawned before slapping her on the shoulder genially and turning to his own room.

"Goodnight Natsu," Lucy replied, turning to her own door and getting ready to push it open. However just as she turned the handle, a sly voice called out,

"Admit it though, you _were _perving on me back there…"

"_Natsu…"_

* * *

**A/N: **Okay basically, I'm trying to get the teasing and familiar element of their relationship getting going, but I don't know if it's working…I hope it is and that you guys got that I was trying to do that with this chapter…um review and tell me please?

Also, is anyone else having trouble uploading new chapters/stories on here? I've been trying for like two days to upload this chapter...


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

Chapter 8

"Twelve!" Lucy wailed dramatically, pounding her fists on the fluffy duvet for more emphasis, "twelve Princes! Can you believe it?"

Levy laughed and sympathetically patted Lucy's shoulder, "well he _is _a Fairy Tail Mage, it's time you learn that we don't give up easily". Levy had been about to embark on a mission with her team, Jet and Droy, Team Shadowgear, but the boys mentioned they needed to stock up on supplies before they got going. Levy happily suggested that they stock up on supplies in the town nearby to the castle where Lucy and Natsu were, that way she could pop in on Lucy and hand her a few new books like she had promised a week ago.

Lucy groaned and flopped back onto her bed, "but the way this is going, I'm never going to get out of here!"

In the month and a half that Lucy had been awake for, twelve Princes came to the castle, attempting to "rescue" her, and all twelve of them were easily dispatched by Natsu.

Levy merely shrugged, "I know it's frustrating Lu-chan, but Natsu's not going to just take it easy and let someone beat him, that's just not the way he is".

"I know, I know," Lucy grumbled in return, knowing that Levy was right. A cheeky grin spread across the blue haired woman's face,

"Besides," she began slyly, "living here with Natsu can't be that bad can it?"

A month and a half prior to that moment, if the same question had been asked to her she would've immediately stated that living with Natsu was terrible, he was a complete idiot and she couldn't wait for the day that he was finally beaten and she got to leave. But something had changed during her time awake, oh she still thought he was an idiot and she still couldn't wait until she could leave, but she could not deny that living with Natsu was not as bad as she had originally thought. He was funny, kind and surprisingly thoughtful.

Lucy nodded her head in agreement, "I guess you're right…he isn't that bad, I do wish he would stop setting fire to the castle though," she narrowed her eyes as she remembered how just last week he had set fire to one of the trees in the garden, he didn't even seem that bothered with putting the fire out! Levy laughed,

"Yeah, he is a bit careless like that. I came to the Guild just after he got this job, but I have heard stories of how he and Gray would destroy the Guild every day, you get used to it I suppose".

"But that's the point Levy!" Lucy whined once more, "I shouldn't be getting used to this, I should be getting rescued by now. I just want my Prince to come for me so I can leave, Natsu's alright and everything, but we both have our own lives we need to live".

"I underst-"

"You know, I haven't seen my parents in all this time, I really miss them," Lucy ignored Levy's interruption and continued speaking, a mournful smile gracing her features, "I think the first thing I'll do when I get out of here is visit them. Mama and Papa. Mum and Dad, won't that be a good surprise for them, huh Levy?"

Lucy frowned, expecting to hear Levy agreeing with her exuberantly like she had been doing for most of their conversation. Instead she was met with a silence. Still frowning, she turned around to look at Levy properly. She was sitting frozen, with wide eyes and a look of shock on her face, staring at Lucy.

"Levy? Levy what's wrong?" Lucy asked, alarmed, "are you ill?" she shuffled closer to her and shook her shoulders lightly.

"Lucy," Levy breathed quietly, a look of torment flitting across her face, "oh Lucy, I am so, so sorry. I thought you knew! I thought-"

"Thought I knew what?"

Levy bit her bottom lip, heart broken that she had to be the one to tell her friend this terrible news. Why had Natsu not done it the moment she woke up?

"Your parents…well…to be more specific, your mother…"

"Mama?" a horrible sense of dread began sweeping over Lucy but she shook it away and smiled through it, "what's wrong with Mama?"

"I'm sorry Lucy," Levy whispered before casting her eyes downwards. Immediately, Lucy jerked her hands away from Levy and shook her head.

"No…no…nothing's wrong with Mama, I'm sure you just got your information wrong!" she tried to say in her previous bright tone of voice, trying as hard as possible to push the tears back.

Levy shook her head sadly, "…she died Lucy…"

_She died Lucy._

_She died Lucy._

_She died Lucy._

_Died._

_Died._

"Dead," Lucy croaked out, "my…my…my mother is dead?" she shook her head wildly, "no, Mama can't be dead, she just can't be!"

Levy said nothing, and Lucy knew it was true. It was funny, but in a few short moments her whole world had come crashing down on her. She felt Levy shift on the mattress and in a second she felt her embrace her lovingly. Lucy appreciated it, she really did, but she didn't need her comfort or sympathy right now.

"H-how long?" she stuttered, "I mean…w-when did she…" she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Ten years ago," Levy admitted, wincing as she felt Lucy tense up underneath her and then push her away gently.

"Ten…_ten_ years ago," Lucy wailed, "she's been de- gone for that long, and I didn't know? Nobody thought to tell me until now? Nobody?" her voice was becoming shriller and shriller by the moment, but she didn't care, she could feel her tears getting ready to fall.

"I am so sorry Lucy, I…I didn't know that you hadn't been told," Levy sighed sadly, wishing she could do something to stop her friends anguish, "I-"

"I think Jet and Droy will be back soon, you should go," Lucy said harshly ignoring the look of hurt that flashed across Levy's face. Later on, she would feel bad about being so harsh with one of her closest friends and she would apologise, but right now she just needed to be alone.

"Lucy, I can stay…"

"No, you should go. You have a mission. Just go…please….please, just go," she whimpered, her voice cracking once she began to beg for her to leave. Levy hesitated before nodding and hopping off the bed.

"I'm sorry Lu-chan," she whispered before exiting the room and leaving Lucy to wallow in her own despair.

For a few minutes Lucy didn't know what to do. She sat on her bed, bunching the hem of her skirt up in her fists as she tried to clear her head.

"Mama," she whispered into the silence, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to remember the woman she gave the name to. She knew she loved her, that was obviously by the way her heart was pounding wildly against her chest, but for the life of her she could not remember her. All she could see in her mind was the silhouette of a woman extending her arms as if she were about to hug her. A wild array emotions began coursing through her body and she began to shake. First anger. Anger that she could not remember her own mother, what kind of daughter did that make her? Anger with the world for not telling her about her death. Then she became fearful. Though what she was scared of she did not know. A finally, utter despair. And that was when she decided to cry. Once she opened the floodgates it was impossible to stop and she curled up in herself on the bed, letting the tears rack her lithe body.

"Ma-ma-," she sobbed clutching at her hair, as if trying to cause her self some pain as if this would make up for her mothers death.

* * *

She was still crying, even an hour later. Perhaps it was because she hadn't cried in all those years, but she knew the tears weren't showing any sign of stopping any time soon. It felt good to cry. She needed to mourn her loss. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Suddenly thoughts about being rescued by a Prince seemed trivial and ridiculous. How could she have been so selfish to spend all these years worrying about her first kiss when her mother was _dying_.

"I'm a terrible daughter," she wailed to herself in between cries.

"LUUUCYYYYYYYY! Natsu wants to know if- LUCY?" Happy burst into the room with a large grin on his face that was promptly erased the second he saw Lucy curled up in the foetal position on her bed, sobbing her heart out. In a flash he was by her side, awkwardly patting her shoulder,

"Lucy?" he said hesitantly, "is something wrong?"

Lucy said nothing, but instead increased the loudness of her sobs, making Happy jump backwards in fright.

"Hey, Lucy, are you ill? Do you want some fish, cause fish always makes me feel better and-"

"I don't want any stupid fish! Just get out! Get out! _Out!" _Lucy shrieked, chucking a pillow at the scared looking cat to make him leave quicker. Just like Levy, she knew she was being rude and would regret her actions later, but right now she did not care. She just wanted to sit alone in her room and mourn, was that really too much to ask?

* * *

"Luce?" Natsu asked hesitantly as he poked his head around the corner of the door. Happy had flown to him in a rush telling him that there was something wrong with Lucy and she was crying her eyes out in her room. In a flash he dropped the matches he had been holding and had ran up to her room, wondering what on Earth could be wrong with her. Levy hadn't said anything to him as she left the castle, although she did give him a strange look. When he peeked through the door and saw her crying madly on the bed, he withdrew his head and slid down the wall outside, pondering on what he had just seen.

"AHAH!" he yelled in the corridor, happy with himself for quickly coming up with the solution to Lucy's problems. During his life with Igneel, the Dragon had attempted to teach Natsu everything there was to know about the world and how it worked. Obviously he had not managed to teach him everything before he mysteriously disappeared, but he did manage to tell Natsu about, _the Monthlies_. Natsu shuddered as he remembered what his father had told him about them.

"_They are a most heinous villain, child," Igneel boomed, "the Monthlies are a creature that attacks the inside of a woman for five days a month and has the power to cause them immense pain!"_

"_So...we just bust inside the women a kill the Monthlies?" Natsu had asked_

"_No! This is a creature that we men have no power over. We cannot even harm the Monthlies! The only thing women can do it ride it out. Eventually the Monthlies leave the woman's body to go and plague another!"_

"_Oh, so it's not that bad then?"_

"_Foolish child! The Monthlies are the most cruel, and evil creature out there. They can render the strongest woman unable to move for five days. They can turn the kindest soul into a vicious witch whose sole intent is to cause us men agony. They can make the skinniest lady spend those five days sitting in the kitchen eating tub after tub of cookie dough. And they make a woman's emotions go haywire. One minute they may be smiling, the next they may be screaming at us, the next they may be the happiest they have ever been and then the next they may be reduced to a mess of tears! I tell you, the Monthlies are not something to be taken lightly!"_

Natsu nodded to himself in the corridor. Yes, that was definitely it, Lucy was just being attacked by the Monthlies. Although he knew there was nothing he could do about them it still made him feel strangely angry that Lucy was being attacked by something and he could do nothing to help her. Igneel had warned him to keep away from women when they were being attacked by the Monthlies, but leaving Lucy alone crying seemed horribly wrong to him, so he took a deep breath before barging into her room.

"Lucy?"

"_Out_!" she hissed, not looking up from the blankets she had buried herself in, "just get out Natsu!"

Natsu frowned, but kept walking closer towards her bed, noticing that she was still crying even through her words, "look Luce, I know the Monthlies are beating you up pretty bad, but you've gotta fight it. Lying in bed crying isn't going to stop them. Man up!" he pumped his fist in the air and grinned, proud of his little motivational speech.

Lucy groaned, but said nothing about his stupidity, she didn't have the energy to deal with him now anyway, "please just leave me alone Natsu…I need to be alone right now…"

His frowned deepened at those words, he didn't know what it was, but there was something in her voice that told him she was really hurting…and not just from the Monthlies either. He took another step closer towards her and perched on her bed before gently tugging the blanket away from her face.

"Luce, what's wrong?" Natsu gasped when he finally got a look at her face. It was stained with tears, and was all red a blotchy from her consistent crying, not to mention her eyes were bloodshot and she was trying to sniff up the stray snot that had escaped during her crying time.

"Mama…" she whispered, which in turn caused a whole new bout of tears to start falling. Without a word and if it were the most natural thing in the world, Natsu climbed further into her bed, scooped her up in his arms so her head was resting on his chest and he began gently stroking her back in the same soothing manner Mirajane and occasionally Erza would do for him when he was younger and was crying because he had lost to Gray in a fight.

It felt much different than when Levy had tried comforting her. When Natsu embraced her it felt _right_, like this was what she had needed the whole time. She felt safe in his arms. Had she not been so distraught she probably would've recoiled away from him immediately, but at that moment in time she felt she would break in a million unrecoverable pieces if Natsu let go of her. He didn't ask her anything or even say anything else, instead he silently and patiently allowed her to dampen his top with her tears so she could finish crying. When she felt better she would remember to thank him for being there for her when she really needed it, but right now she could only focus on crying her eyes out.

He wasn't keeping check on time, so he couldn't say exactly how long it took for her to calm down, but eventually her noisy tears lessened to quieter ones, which in turn lessened to quiet hiccups every now and then.

"Thank you," she finally whispered, shocking him slightly, he hadn't realised how accustomed he had become to the silence . He shrugged modestly and grinned slightly,

"It's not like I was gonna leave you crying like that, Luce, what kind of friend would I be then?"

Lucy smiled weakly, on a normal day she would've teasingly refuted his statement that they were friends, but right now she did not think that was appropriate. He poked her shoulder lightly,

"So, you gonna tell me why you were crying so much? Something tells me it wasn't the Monthlies?"

Lucy paused before shaking her head and biting her bottom lip, the tears were threatening to fall again but she blinked them back furiously, she refused to cry again in front of him, especially after all the crying she had done already.

"Levy," she began, taking a deep breath, "Levy told me…she told me…that…she told me about my mother!"

There was a silence as Natsu digested this statement, for a moment he was thoroughly confused but then, "oh…" he realised what she had meant. Levy had told her about her mother's death. Instinctively, he clutched onto her body tighter, trying to reassure her and stop her from crying any more,

"I'm sorry Luc-"

"Please don't. Please don't tell me you're sorry," she whispered, her head still facing his chest, refusing to look up at him, "I don't want your sympathy. I just…I…why didn't you tell me Natsu? Were you just going to let me think she was still alive this whole time? Were you?" her voice was steadily rising with every word she spoke, and so were her anger levels. That was understandable, Natsu was sure he'd be pretty pissed if someone close to him had died and it had been kept from him for so long. Natsu pondered on what he was going to say, and finally settled on the truth.

"I didn't want to hurt you," he mumbled, ignoring the blush that was staining his cheek with his words, "it was stupid of me to hide something like that from you…but…I didn't want to see you cry. I didn't want to see you like this, I guess."

Lucy sat in silence, listening to his reason for not telling her the moment she woke up. She was angry with him for not telling her, but her heart softened as she heard his reason. It was…sweet. Like he actually cared for her and she wasn't just another source of money for him.

"I…I didn't even get to say goodbye to her one last time," Lucy mused. For some reason she still felt the same pain as earlier, but the tears were not threatening to flow anymore, "I didn't get to tell her how much I loved her".

"I know how you feel Luce-"

"_No you don't! _And don't you dare try and say you do!" Lucy snapped at him, pushing herself up so she now sat up and could face him, "don't you _dare _Natsu!"

Natsu shook his head and smiled sadly, "I do…my dad isn't dead, well I hope he isn't,"

Lucy scowled at him, if this was his attempt at trying to make her feel better, then he was failing.

"He disappeared one day, you know? One night he was there, telling me stories and teaching me new magic tricks and the next morning he was gone. Without a trace. I haven't seen him since. I don't even think I said goodnight to him that night, I just fell asleep. So yeah, I know how you're feeling".

Lucy nodded shakily, "I…I just want to say goodbye to her, one last time…"

"Me too,"

"N-N-Natsu!" she cried, before flinging herself over his body once more, tears racking her body. She had expected him to flinch away from her, but once again he wrapped his arms around her soothingly and held her.

_Thank you_.

* * *

She felt _ridiculously _stiff when as awoke. Her throat was sore, and it took a while for her to pry her eyes open. She had had a dreamless sleep, something that hadn't happened in many years, and she wondered why that was. Suddenly everything that had happened earlier on in the day hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh yeah…" she mumbled to herself, "Mama…"

She looked around her room, noticing that Natsu was no longer in her room with her. She assumed that once she fell asleep he must've pried himself away from her, and to be honest she didn't blame him. He was probably way out of his depth trying to comfort her, but despite that he had done a pretty good job. She still felt the pain of her mother's death, but every time the tears threatened to fall she would remember the way Natsu had held and soothed her and miraculously they would disappear.

"He really is a good friend".

"I know I am,"

Lucy jumped and clutched her heart at the sudden noise. Natsu was standing in her doorway with a grin on his sweaty face. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously,

"Where have you been?"

He didn't say anything, instead calmly walked into the room, grabbed her hand and began to drag her out. He ran at lightning speed through the castle and Lucy fought to keep up.

"Natsu! I'm really not in the mood for any of your games right now," she groaned as he dragged her out of the castle entrance and into the grounds, "I just want to sleep!"

"Aw but you already slept for such a long time, I've been waiting to show you for _ages_!"

"Waiting to show me what?"

Natsu said nothing, and just continued to drag her around the castle grounds. She was about to push him off of her, but the object of what he was dying to show her suddenly came into view.

"THIS!" Natsu breathed heavily as they stood in front of it. They were standing in front of a Sakura tree, it was in full bloom and looked beautiful. But that wasn't what caused Lucy to lose her breath. By the foot of the tree was a medium sized stone memorial, carved intricately with small flowers. She bent down low to look at the inscription on the memorial stone:

**_Layla Heartphillia_**

**_Queen of Fiore_**

**_Loving Wife_**

**_Eternally Loving Mother_**

"Natsu…"

"I couldn't bring you here actual grave…but you wanted to say goodbye, so…so I thought you'd like a memorial so you can and…I can take it down if you want?" he said quickly as Lucy turned to him and gave him a look he couldn't quite recognise, "I didn't mean to offend you, I just-"

"Thank you Natsu," Lucy smiled, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks, "this means…this means a lot, it really does!"

Natsu shrugged nonchalantly, but grinned widely, "no problem Luce," before they both turned to face the memorial. Lucy took a deep breath,

"Hello Mama, it's me…Lucy…"

Natsu turned on his heel, not sure if he should be listening in on her private conversation with her mother, but he was stopped by her hand latching out and wrapping around his own.

"Stay…" she mumbled, not taking her eyes away from the memorial stone. Natsu nodded and stood with her, their hands holding the other for the whole time.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi guys, this chapter made me slightly emotional haha, Natsu can be really sweet when he wants to, huh? Review?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary:** Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**The Dragons Ward**

**Chapter 9**

_In his prime, Hades had been an affable gentleman, he had many friends and many women would fight over who would win his hand in marriage. He was blessed with dashing good looks and a charming personality, he possessed an innate talent for magic and soon became a formidable Mage. It also helped that his family owned the two of the main transport companies in Fiore, making him filthy rich by name. Yes, Hades lived a damn good life. _

_Somewhere along the way…he changed. Hades always strived for power, it was part of his genetic make up to want to be the best, and for the majority of his life, this thirst for power caused him no real problems. But what he had was just not enough for him. As with most evil villains, they always need more. The hundreds of young women who literally flung themselves at him day after day were not enough. The millions of jewels he had stashed away in his own personal bank account was not enough. The hundreds of servants he had that waited on his every whim was not enough. It would never be enough. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he realised that he would never truly be satisfied with his life, but that did not stop him from wanting more._

_Because of this desire for more, he decided that it was destiny that he came across Her. During a business trip his carriage driver suddenly and extremely violently braked. Angry at the sudden lurch forward, Hades had opened the door and peered out, wanting to know what foolish animal dared to run across the road when a carriage was hurtling down it. To his surprise, he did not see a bloodied deer or something of the sort lying in the road, instead lay a young dark skinned woman. From what he could see, she was once very pretty, but a jagged scar ran down her face which distorted her once perhaps beautiful features. Thankfully, she did not seem to be badly injured as she stood up shakily and began to dust herself off. She was wearing dark purple robes and an ever darker purple hood hung off her neck, as if she had been hiding her face from the world. With the hideous scar that marked her face, he didn't entirely blame her._

"_Woman?" Hades had called, jumping out of his vehicle and walking towards her, he didn't want a law suit on his hands after all, "are you alright?" _

_She flinched away from him as if she was scared of human contact, ducking her head slightly she muttered out, "yes, sir. Sorry sir for disturbing your journey". She moved to shuffle away, and Hades immediately noticed the way she limped and winced, she was definitely hurt. His conscience took over, although he may not have been the kindest of men, his upbringing always taught him not to leave a young woman injured. With a sigh he stuck out his hand and laid it upon her arm, intending to stop her and bring her back to his carriage to deliver her to the nearest hospital. As soon as his hand touched her she let out a cry of pain and suddenly stiffened as if she had been struck by lightning. _

"_W-What?" Hades gasped, immediately letting go of her and giving his driver a strange look, his driver merely shrugged his shoulders, letting his master know that he was just as baffled as he was. The woman stood frozen for a full minute before her body suddenly went slack and she keeled over with a sigh of relief._

"_God damn it, what the hell is wrong with you woman?" Hades growled as he once again reached for her arm to help her up. She was faster than him this time and quickly stood up muttering harshly,_

"_Don't touch me", her voice was low and gravely, as if she wasn't used to speaking aloud. Hades scowled at her, he wasn't used to insubordination from people, least of all strange women on the road._

"_You…" she began before bowing her head and licking her dry lips, "you will meet a man-"_

"_Kain, start the carriage up, we're leaving!" Hades growled, turning his back on the woman, "I have no time for foolish women like this one"._

"_Yes sir!"_

"_You will meet a man, a poor, poor man," she continued following him to the door of his carriage, "you will take him on as your apprentice and he will become richer and more powerful than yourself!"_

_Hades paused in his slamming of his carriage door and he frowned at the woman, "who are you? Some sort of fortune teller?"_

_The woman nodded her head jerkily, "I…I am sir…"_

_Hade let out a raucous bark of laughter and sneered at the woman, how often did people come to his house of residence claiming to tell him the future with the hopes of earning a few jewels from him? _

"_Do yourself - and all of us - a favour, and get yourself a real job-" he began before she interrupted again._

"_This poor man will marry a Princess and he will become King. Your apprentice will become King and-"_

"_Enough!" Hades finally bellowed, slamming his door shut on the woman, he truly had no patience for foolish people, "Kain, drive"._

_Kain nodded and whipped the horse, forcing it into action. In an instance, the carriage was once again rattling down the road, leaving the strange woman in the dust. Hades sighed and leaned back into his seat, pushing all thoughts of the strange woman out of his mind. He did not believe in the magic of fortune telling, it was a lost magic that had ceased to exist many years ago. The crazy quacks who thought they could do it nowadays were just simply out to make a few jewels. He snorted to himself as the carriage rattled along, as if anyone I take under my wing will become more powerful than me._

_He didn't even think about the strange woman for another five years. He was sitting at his large desk at work, waiting for his next appointment to arrive. In order to gain some good publicity for his company, his board of directors had forced him to hold a nationwide competition to be his own personal apprentice. He had hated the idea from the beginning, but he could admit that it brought in a lot of money from newspapers and TV shows who all wanted the inside story on it. It had been a long and gruelling three months, and after a series of tests he finally picked his candidate. He simply picked the young gentleman who had scored highest in all the tasks and tests that he had been set. His eyes drifted towards a large white envelope that sat on his desk. Once he had picked his new apprentice, he had asked for one of his trusted colleagues to do a background check on the man, but he had yet to read it. With a hefty sigh, he reached across the table, tore the envelope open and began reading._

"_Charles Heartphillia," he murmured as his eyes danced over a picture of a young man, "resident of Fiore, lives in Hargeon," he continued reading the menial information out loud before his eyes suddenly widened in shock, "No parents. Works five jobs to keep a living. No family to speak of. Nobody close at all," he rapidly flicked through the file and found the page he was looking for, "yearly income: 1200 Jewels!"_

"_1200 Jewels a year?" Hades gasped, wondering how on Earth somebody could survive on such a measly wage. _

_Almost as if the words had been in the forefront of his mind the whole time, he suddenly heard the low voice of the strange woman he had met five long years ago, __**"You will meet a man, a poor, poor man. You will take him on as your apprentice and he will become richer and more powerful than yourself. This poor man will marry a Princess and he will become King"**__._

_For the first time in his life, Hades began to worry if perhaps this strange woman really was able to tell the future…_

_._

_._

_._

In a castle far away from where Natsu and Lucy dwelled, a small girl ducked out of the way as her angry Master chucked a bottle of wine across the room, narrowly missing her small head.

"M-Master!" she yelped, trying to still her nerves, "I apologise for my bad news, but rest assured we are working hard to rectify the pr-"

"_And how long have you been working on it?" _Hades bellowed causing the girl to duck into the shadows, "hm, Meredy?"

"Almost fourteen years, Master," Meredy answered, shaking as she felt his presence.

"So tell me Meredy, why has it been fourteen years and I still do not have the Princess in my grasp?"

"I…I do not know, Master," Meredy answered quietly. Truthfully, she did know. It was pretty simple, Hades did not have the Princess because she had not been rescued yet. And there was nothing that Hades, nor his subordinates the Seven Kin of Purgatory could do about that. But of course she wasn't going to say that to him. Only one person had been foolish enough to mention this little fact to Hades, and things had not gone well. That was when they had once been called the Eight Kin of Purgatory. They all still flinched when they remembered what had happened to their fallen comrade when Hades had been angered by his answer.

"Get out of my sight, and do not return until you have good news!"

"Yes!" Meredy squeaked as she all but ran out of his room. Although she was an extremely powerful Mage, her Master could still reduce her to the little girl she truly was.

Hades scowled at Meredy's retreating figure, what was the point of having seven of the most powerful Mage's at your disposal if they could do nothing to help you?

"Damn you Makarov," he growled, brandishing a fist into the air, "damn you to hell!" when he had made the deal with Charles, he had not expected that he would think to get Makarov involved. Now, he sorely regretted his taking of the Princess. When she was born he was going to take her from her parents immediately, but he quickly realised that that would mean he would have to look after a baby until she became of age and he knew more than anyone else that he did not have the patience to look after a crying, whining little bratty baby. Which is why he delayed taking her. He decided that her fifth birthday would be a good time as she would be old enough to stop being such a cry baby and it would be easier to look after her. He did not count of her "idiotic" parents upon going to perhaps the only Mage just as powerful as him. His old friend, and now his enemy, Makarov. With a sadistic grin, he decided that once he had the Princess he would destroy Makarov and his precious Guild, as a sort of revenge scheme. Yes, that would be perfect.

* * *

"You look beat up"

"I'm fine"

"You're sweating"

"It's hot in here"

"But you're a fire dragon, surely that shouldn't affect you?"

"I…I said I'm fine"

"You're bleeding…"

"I said I'm _fin- _what, I'm bleeding?"

Lucy giggled as she watched Natsu belatedly react to the fact that he had a tiny scratch on his face that was slowly dripping tiny drops of blood. They were sitting on the steps of the now semi-destroyed foyer of the castle. Not even ten minutes earlier, had it been the scene of a small scale battle between Natsu and yet another Prince hoping to rescue Lucy from the dragon. Lucy hadn't watched the fight, she had already been told by Erza that it was imperative she stay hidden when Princes were coming to attack, but she _felt _the fight. The castle shook and the temperature had risen to levels that Lucy hadn't ever felt before. For a second or two, she actually wondered if Natsu had lost, and for some strange reason she felt guilty for wondering such a thing. But eventually she heard the bellow of the Prince being forcibly thrown out of the castle by Natsu, and she knew the Prince had failed. Strangely enough, she didn't feel that sad about the fact she had to spend more time in the castle with Natsu. She wasn't going to lie to herself anymore. She enjoyed Natsu's company and she considered him a friend. He made her laugh, he cheered her up when she was sad and she often found herself wondering if they could continue their friendship once she got rescued. Since that night where he had comforted her because of her mother's death something had changed between the two. In the three months she had been awake, she already knew that her friendship with the pink haired man was something she wanted to keep hold of.

"Come on then," she swung a friendly arm around his shoulder, "lets get you patched up dragon boy," she grinned at him as she uttered her little nickname for him. Natsu froze for a moment before raising an eyebrow,

"This is new…"

"What is?"

"You're being nice to me,"

She dropped her arm from his shoulder and placed it on her hips, "I'm _always _nice to you!" she insisted. Natsu rolled his eyes,

"No I mean, normally after I beat a Prince you mope around for a couple hours and then yell at me for not getting beat," he waggled his eyebrows cheekily at her, "I think you like being here with me, Luce!"

She quickly turned a shade of red resembling a tomato, "I-I do not!" she lied, not wanting to let him know exactly how much she valued his company, "I was rooting for the Prince, I can't wait to get out of here!"

"Aw, c'mon Luce, don't act like you don't like me!" Natsu said, putting on a fake pout as they walked up the stairs into the main area of the castle.

"Hmph," Lucy sniffed, crossing her arms across her chest, "who said I'm acting?"

"Fine, be like that," Natsu stretched his arms lazily, "and I had a real nice surprise for you as well, oh well. Guess you don't want it".

Lucy rose an eyebrow, "what is it?"

Natsu shook his head and stuck his tongue out at her, "not telling".

"_What is it?"_

"Why are you so interested, I thought you didn't like me?"

Lucy huffed in exasperation, "fine! I like you, now what's my surprise?"

Natsu's eyes lit up at her words and he grinned that trademark grin of his, "uhhh…still not telling!" he laughed before he began to run down the corridor, with Lucy hot on his heels,

"_Natsu Dragneel, what are you planning?" _she screeched as he roared with laughter.

Growing up, she had lived a sheltered life, her parents were very picky and choosy of who she was allowed to be in the company of so she never really had the chance to make many friends. Despite all of this, she could safely say she was glad to have Natsu as her friend. With him around, there was really never a dull moment.

* * *

**A/N: **Um so this chapter is kinda boring right? It's more of a filler chapter to set up what's going to happen in the next one, and I wanted some background for Hades.

And omg, this story just hit 100 favourites, _really guys? Really? _I'm so glad so many of you like it so far and I hope I don't disappoint!

Also, I kept forgetting to add this before, but a lot of people were asking if Lucy would be able to use magic and to be honest, I hadn't really planned on her using magic, but if I can work it in, I _might_. No promises though, it's just a lot of people asked about it so…yeah.

Review ^_^ ?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 10**

The Guild was in chaos. That's not to say that the large building wasn't always in chaos, because it was. But the chaos it was in now was something unheard of. Mirajane was running from the kitchen to the entrance, depositing large black crates by the door and screaming curses at anyone who dared get in her way. Gray was situated in the large walk-in freezer, nobody knew exactly what he was working on because anyone foolish enough to pop their head through the door was promptly bombarded with a shower of ridiculously sharp ice cubes. So, Gray was left alone, but every couple of minutes they heard the tell-tale sign of ice shattering into tiny pieces and then a string of profanities coming from the Ice Mage. Macao was guarding around about 50 brown barrels full of alcohol from an angry looking Cana who was prowling the vicinity begging Macao to just let her have one of the barrels. Every time he shook his head, Cana added another punishment to the list of things she was going to do to him when she was let go. Yes, Fried had trapped her in a barrier that would not allow her to get within 20 metres of the alcohol. Once she realised this, she added Fried to her list of men she needed to castrate. Gajeel was sitting in a corner of the Guild, tuning his precious guitar and humming a few notes. Nobody knew how she could stand the terrible racket he was producing, but Levy was sitting dedicatedly by his feet, bent over several large pieces of paper. Her magical pen was running across the paper a lightning speed and the small, usually quiet girl even _hissed _at anyone who interrupted her. That was how stressed she was. Happy, Charle, and Pantherlily were flying above everyone's head, each carrying medium sized boxes full of balloons and streamers, and they put them next to where Mira had been placing her crates. Fried has his nose stuck in a book and was reading it very carefully and with a frown on his face. Erza was standing on top of the bar table with her sword pointing towards the ceiling, shouting at anyone who either wasn't working or wasn't working faster enough…so basically everyone in her mind.

The famous Guild known as Fairy Tail was in a state of pure chaos. But it was a good type of chaos, and for a very good reason…

* * *

Lucy narrowed her eyes as she stared at Natsu, something was up and he was refusing to tell. For the past few days he had been going from either unbelievably hyperactive or extremely panicky. Right now he was rocking back and forth on his chair with barely concealed excitement. He wore a large grin on his face and kept sneaking glances at her as if he knew something she didn't.

"Natsu!" she finally sighed, tired of his stupid games, "what is it?"

His grin only widened, "what is what?" he said innocently. Lucy gripped her spoon harder in her hand and resisted the urge to bludgeon him to death with it, instead she took a deep and calming breath before smiling sweetly at him,

"I'm just worried about you, you've been acting weird for the past week…is something wrong?"

If it were possible, his already incredibly wide grin only widened some more and he let out a knowing snicker, but still refused to say anything. That was the final straw.

"OW!" he howled, rubbing the spot on his forehead where a spoon had hit him like a bullet, "what was that for?"

.

.

.

Something was definitely up. When she had asked him if they could go swimming, instead of happily shouting yes like he was prone to do, he had looked at her with shifty eyes and denied her request, before running away from her yelling something about needing to clean his room. That was the biggest lie she had ever head. The day Natsu chose to tidy his room on his own accord would be the day that Hell froze over. She had tried to follow him, but it was as if he knew he was being watched and he constantly changed his route till eventually she huffed angrily and gave up. Fine. If he didn't want to hang around with her, that was fine, she wasn't going to pine after him like some lovesick puppy, she had far too much dignity. Or so she told herself. Really, without the companionship of the hyperactive dragon slayer, she actually felt quite lonely. Happy had disappeared a few days ago, even he had been acting strange, and she literally had no-one to talk to.

"Stupid Natsu," she mumbled as she lazily walked around the castle, but she immediately felt guilty for bad mouthing him. After all, it wasn't in his job description to baby sit her, he had been doing it for the last few months out of the goodness of his heart. She belatedly realised that he probably had his own life to live within the confines of the castle, and she was being extremely selfish by demanding he entertain her all this time. With a determined nod, she decided that she would no longer rely on Natsu as much, after all he was just supposed to be guarding her, not keeping her entertained.

"Okay Lucy!" she said brightly to herself, "what should I do then, huh?" with a new skip in her step she ran around the castle, it was so big she was sure that she would find something of interest soon enough. And she did.

She had been wandering around aimlessly for about fifteen minutes when she came to the West Wing entrance of the castle and heard voices. Interested, she peeked her head around the pillar and her face lit up. Walking through the door she saw a familiar head of silver hair carrying a large black bag.

"Mira!" she whispered happily to herself, great now she could hang out with the Mirajane for a while! She had been about to emerge from her hiding place, but Mira began speaking to someone behind her and she stopped,

"_Hurry up guys_," Mira whined harshly, "we still need to get back the Guild and get ready"

Lucy pouted from her hiding space once she realised that Mira would not be staying.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," a familiar voice grumbled out, and Gray emerged from the doorway, dragging a large box on a trolley with him. A few other people followed him through the door, each of them were carrying large crates, Levy and Juvia were each carrying things and there were a few other people she did not recognise, though she assumed they were all Mages of Fairy Tail. Her brows furrowed as she tried to think of what they were doing in the castle, bringing all these boxes and crates.

"…yeah hurry up, otherwise Lucy will see and we _don't _want that," Natsu suddenly came into view.

They all started laughing at his words and Lucy felt her heart plummet, without waiting to hear the rest of their conversation she quietly tore down the corridor, trying to still the tears that were threatening to fall.

Natsu and the others obviously didn't want her around.

"I guess they don't like me," she whimpered to herself as she ran up a flight of stairs on the way to her bedroom. It broke her heart for her to think that the only people she had ever considered as friends did not want to spend any time with her.

_Ah, it's because you're a Princess, _a nasty little voice spoke out to her from her mind, _they were just sucking up to you in front of your face, who would really want to be friends with you? _

With one last sob, she pushed open her bedroom door and slammed it shut.

.

.

Meanwhile, Natsu stood in a huddle with Mirajane, Gray and Fried whilst other guild members helped to deliver more of the supplies.

"Really Salamander, I'm kinda surprised that you managed to organise this," Gray nodded appreciatively, causing Natsu to scowl and punch him lightly in the shoulder for insulting his intelligence.

"Me too!" Mira chirped, "I've only ever see you put this much effort into your fighting, and only when you're really passionate about something!"

"He's real passionate about Lu-chan then!" Levy giggled as she walked past their group, "I'd hurry up if I were you guys, Erza will start getting cranky," she added as she left the castle, leaving on Fried, Gray and Mira left with Natsu.

Mira nodded in agreement, "right, Fried have you set up your enchantments?"

"I have indeed. I've set up the enchantment in the first closet on the right in the first floor western corridor. All you need to do is get her into that room and the enchantment will do the rest".

"And don't mess it up, flame brain," Gray added, earning himself yet another punch from Natsu.

"I won't. I won't," he grumbled, "now get the hell out of here and I'll see you guys later".

After a few more taunts at Natsu, his friends finally left and he was left alone in the castle - well Lucy was somewhere but it was a good thing he couldn't sense her anywhere near. With a grin he turned around and looked at all the things his fellow Guild mates had brought, he had a lot of work to be getting on with.

* * *

It was a strange dream. Normally when she dreamt she dreamt about being rescued by her dashing Prince Charming. In this dream she was lying in bed as usual, the door was suddenly kicked open and in strode a man. She couldn't see his face because his body was hidden by a cloud of smoke and flames. He strode quickly to her bed, the flames and smoke rapidly disappearing with each step he took. He didn't hesitate, instead he pushed his hands against her shoulders and dipped his head in, capturing her lips in a deep kiss. It started off soft and gained more and more momentum with each passing second. His tongue ran itself along her bottom lip and without protested she opened her mouth and allowed him to survey it with his tongue. He tasted familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on it. She wasn't sure for how long it lasted for, but when he finally broke free she was out of breath and clutching his clothing. She heard a low chuckle and glanced up, finally wanting to see the face of the wonderful, wonderful, man who had rescued her. He grinned,

"Hey Lucy," he mumbled, dipping low again and burying his nose in her neck.

"N-N-Natsu!" she yelped as he nipped and kissed at her neck, "Natsu! You? What…what are you doing?" she began writhing under his grasp and tried to get away from him.

"Lucy?" his brows furrowed and he sat up and looked at her, "Lucy?"

She kept fighting him, trying to push him off. She just kissed Natsu. Natsu of all people. And what's worse, she enjoyed it! That was wrong, oh so wrong.

"Lucy?" he kept yelling trying to get her attention.

"Lucy!"

"Lucy!"

"LUCE!"

And that was when she woke up, panting heavily and with a racing heart. She jumped out of her bed and stared around her room, looking for the source of the noise that had woken her up. And there he was, sitting by the foot of her bed with a concerned expression on his face. She couldn't help it, she immediately began to blush at the sight of him.

"Luce? Are you alright?"

"Get out!" she wailed, chucking a pillow at his head, "what are you doing here anyway?" by this point in time she had ducked back underneath her covers to hide her tomato like face from him. He seemed undisturbed by her actions and simply climbed over her and tugged the covers away from her face,

"Come on Luce, I wanna show you something!" he said happily, in the tone of voice that made him sound like a kid for whom Christmas had come early.

"Oh, now you want to hang out with me," she huffed indignantly, "I'm not some sort of dog you can call whenever you want you know, I have feelings and I-"

"I didn't call you a dog, I don't like dogs anyway, I'm more of a cat guy. Now _come on_!" he interrupted her and grabbed her hand before dragging her out of her bed and literally tugging her down the corridor, ignoring her shouts of _LET ME GO NOW!_

She was incredibly thankful that he was facing the other way and therefore unable to see the blush she wore on her face. She was confused. On one hand she was still feeling hurt for what she had overheard earlier and she needed to confront him about that, and on the other hand she had just had a rather saucy dream involving him and she had no idea where it had come from. She didn't like Natsu…did she? She shook her head as they ran down the corridor. Of course she didn't like him. He was a friend and nothing more. Still…her dream had been so vivid and it was almost like she could taste his lips on her own even now and-

"Eep!" she slapped herself mentally, trying to rid herself of the image of Natsu placing scorching kisses down her neck.

"Luce, you okay?"

"Fine! Fine!" she insisted quickly, not wanting him to delve any further into the matter, because that would only lead to questions like, _why won't you look me in the eye? Why is your face so red?_, "now tell me where you're taking me Natsu, I'm not in the mood!"

"Here!" he yelled triumphantly, coming to an abrupt halt that resulted in Lucy slamming into his back.

"Ow," she groaned, rubbing her forehead, "what's so great about this?" she was staring at a door that she was sure led into a closet. Natsu said nothing, instead he wrenched open the door and grinned,

"See ya later, Luce," before he grabbed her arm and forcibly pushed her into the closet and quickly locked the door behind him. Whistling happily at a job well done, Natsu strode down the corridor, the rest of the Guild would be here soon and he still needed to get dressed.

"Wait…NATSU!" Lucy screamed as he slammed the door shut on her, leaving her locked in a pitch black closet, "h-help…?"

* * *

She hated him. Absolutely hated him. There was no question about it. How could she even have considered liking him not even 10 minutes ago? He was an insensitive fool.

"Natsu! Natsu Dragneel, you open this door _now_, you complete and utter _jerk_!" she screeched, banging her fists on the door with more power than she originally thought she possessed. She decided she would kill him when she eventually got out. Painfully. Very, very painfully. And slowly too. As slow as she could possibly do it. The darkness of the room was creeping up on her and she felt like she was about to be suffocated by it.

"Natsu, please! This isn't funny anymore! PLEASE!" she yelled, slamming her fists against it once more before she gave up entirely and slid down the cold wall, pulling her legs up to her chest and shivering. It was cold, "I hate you Natsu…" she mumbled sadly. She couldn't believe that not even a few days ago had she been close to calling him her best friend. Ha! The thought was laughable now, he was nothing but a stupid little prankster whose sole purpose in life was to cause her as much discomfort as possible. Okay, so that may have been a little conceited on her part, but right now she wasn't bothered. She could handle him setting her clothing on fire every now and then, she could even handle him _wearing _her clothes every now and then, but locking her in a pitch black closet was the final straw. Whatever friendship they had forged in the months she had been awake was _gone_. She hated him.

* * *

Erza Scarlet liked things to be in perfect order. All her missions were completed on time, she was never late for anything, even when she had a terrible case of the flu she still managed to arrive on time for her mission. She was an extremely punctual person, which is why a nerve began ticking in her forehead as she sat in the darkness waiting for Lucy to arrive. The Guild members had arrived at the castle on time and had gotten into their hiding places as requested by Natsu, and the only person missing was the woman of the hour. The whole reason they were doing this. Lucy. By her calculations, which were _always _correct, the blonde haired Princess was now a grand total of twelve minutes late. And that did not sit well with her. She peeked out of her carefully chosen hiding place, behind a large plant, and scanned the room for a head of pink hair. Her eyesight quickly adjusted to the darkness and soon enough she found Natsu, peeking out of one of several hidden doors that lined the walls of the room.

"Hmph!" she growled as she strode out of her hiding place and marched over to him, ignoring the many hisses of,

"_Erza, get back in your hiding place, she'll be down soon!"_

As soon as she reached his door, she wrenched it open and glared at the confused looking boy.

"She is late," Erza said simply, earning herself another baffled look, "twelve minutes late to be precise. Why is she late?"

Natsu fought the urge to roll his eyes at Erza, knowing it would not be worth the beating she was sure to pound into him for being rude, but really…did she have to be such a prude about tardiness? Instead, he simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly,

"I dunno Erza, maybe she can't zip up her dress," he shrugged again, "I'm not a girl…"

Erza didn't bother to hide her irritation with him and she heaved a large sigh of annoyance, "I am sure Lucy would have had no difficulty getting dressed. Something has gone wrong, I can sense it," and it was true, she could sense that something had deterred from the plan. That was a little knack she had, she could always tell when someone wasn't following order, it was what helped her keep her team in order during missions. Natsu scowled at the red head, feeling like she was insulting his intelligence now.

"Look, I did everything you said. I brought her downstairs and locked her in the first closet on the left where the dress was, it's not my fault she's not here yet. Maybe Fried did his enchantments wrong and-"

"the _left_?" Erza suddenly gasped, choosing to ignore Fried's outcry of,

"_MY ENCHANTMENTS ARE NEVER WRONG!"_

Natsu nodded, wondering why he suddenly felt a murderous wrath emanating from Erza.

"_The dress was placed in the first closet on the __**right**__," _she all but screamed at him.

"Oh…" Natsu could only gulp as he heard this piece of information. If he was correct, then that would mean he had locked Lucy in an empty and pretty dark closet. He gulped once more…Lucy was not going to be happy with him. Between the anger he was feeling from Erza, and the fury he was sure to feel from Lucy, he wasn't sure he was going to survive the night.

"I'll…I'll go get her…" he stated weakly, trying to move from his hiding spot, but Erza placed a firm - and rather painful - hand on his shoulder pushing him back.

"No," she said briskly, shaking her head, "it is improper for a man to watch a lady change, I will not allow for that to happen."

Before Natsu had the chance to say that he wasn't planning on watching her change, just help her get to the dress, Erza had turned and laid eyes on the first woman she saw.

"Juvia!"

"Y-yes Erza-san?" Juvia yelped, feeling slightly scared now that Erza's attention was directed fully on her now.

"Please go find Lucy and fix this mess this," she jerked a thumb backwards and pointed at Natsu, "this fool has gotten us into. Let us hope he hasn't completely spoilt everything".

Juvia nodded quickly and jumped up from her hiding place, conveniently located next to Gray's hiding place, and scurried to help Lucy.

.

.

She wondered how long she had been in there for. In reality, she knew it had been no more than a few hours, but her anger and fear of the dark allowed her to believe she had been sitting huddled up in the dark for possibly years. Just as she began to lose hope that Natsu would ever free her and she would die in the horrible dark closet, she heard the sound of small feet padding down the corridor outside the closet.

"H-Hello?" she knocked on the door hesitantly, she wanted to be freed from the cupboard, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to face Natsu yet - she hadn't even figured out how she was going to kill him yet after all - "is anyone out there?"

There was a very pregnant pause and Lucy began to fear that she had begun hallucinating, but fortunately for her she heard a key turn and the door was suddenly pried open and she found herself face to face with,

"Juvia! Oh God, thank you Juvia!" Lucy howled as she literally leapt out of the large cupboard and into Juvia's arms, "_where is he? Where is He?" _Lucy hissed glancing down the corridor as if she expected Natsu to jump from around the corner at any moment to cause her more discomfort.

"Lucy-san-" Juvia tried to explain the dire situation they were in, but Lucy was on a verbal rampage and was not listening,

"I'm going to kill him! Oh yes! He thinks it's funny to lock me in a cupboard for hours on end with no food? Ha!"

"Lucy-san…" Juvia said a bit more urgently, but alas the blonde princess was hearing none of it.

"I wonder if he'll find it funny when I _castrate _him! The absolute _jerk_, how dare he lock me-"

"LUCY!" Juvia finally had enough and more or less screeched at Lucy in order to gain her attention. It certainly worked, because Lucy immediately stopped her rant and stared at Juvia in confusion, wondering what it was that had gotten her so worked up.

"Come on, we have to hurry up, else Erza-san may kill Juvia," she shivered lightly at the prospect of dying by Erza's sword and grabbed onto Lucy's hand and began dragging her down the corridor, to the correct closet.

"Erza? Erza's here?" Lucy asked brightly, "excellent, I'll tell her exactly what Natsu did to me. I'm sure she'll be more than willing to help me kill him!"

"Lucy-san is giving Juvia a headache," Juvia mumbled as she finally stopped in front of a door, in a quick flash she pulled open the door and shoved Lucy inside, "now hurry up please Lucy-san. Erza is becoming impatient!" and with that, she slammed the door shut, leaving Lucy standing shocked in yet another closet.

"J-Ju-Juvia…" Lucy stuttered as she stared at the brown back of the door that had been slammed in her face, "did…did I just get locked in another closet…?" she asked herself in a state of shock, hardly believing that another person she considered to be a friend had locked her away somewhere. She was about to start banging on the door and yelling threats once again, but she suddenly became aware of the fact that this closet was nothing at all like the first one Natsu had locked her in. For starters, this one was not pitch black, in fact it was lit very well. Secondly, this one was much larger and gave her room to walk at least ten steps in each direction before she hit a wall. And lastly, the first closet did not have a dress hanging up in it. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the beautiful gown hung up in front of her. Even as a child, she had never seen anything as beautiful as the dress in front of her. She took a tentative step towards the dress and stuck out a shaky hand to feel the soft material. It felt like she was touching a cloud, or at least what she imagined a cloud to feel like. It was along full length gown, with a flowing waist and train and an extremely tight strapless bodice that was complimented with a light purple trim, and a light purple flowery pattern decorating the sides. Sitting on a small raised platform next to the dress was a glistening tiara, and Lucy felt her breath hitch in her throat. Since she had awoken, she hadn't really felt like a princess, but looking at the dress reminded her of her roots. It looked like something royalty would wear. She took one more step closer and suddenly she was encased in a dull green transparent box, with odd writing all over it. Frowning and becoming increasingly scared by the moment, she tried to move back to the door of the closet, but found that she couldn't get past the confines of the box that had just appeared. Her heart began racing, was this another prank of Natsu's? Oooh, she was going to enjoy killing him.

"You will be free to leave this room once you have gotten yourself dressed…" she read the signs on the box and frowned…what the hell was this all about? And besides…the only thing she could possibly get dressed in was the elegant gown that was hung up behind her, and surely she couldn't wear something as beautiful as that? She was sure she wouldn't do the dress justice. However, after hammering on the green walls for about five minutes and getting no results, she reluctantly realised that putting on the damned dress would be the only way.

It wasn't as if she didn't want to wear the dress, oh hell she did. But it was a ridiculously suspicious situation and she was pretty sure Natsu was going to jump out of somewhere cackling like a hooligan for her falling for one of his stupid pranks. Still, she wasn't going to get anywhere hanging around a closet. With one last wary look around the room, she yanked the dress of the hanger and set to work getting it on, wondering what on earth this was all about anyway.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay so, I bet you're kinda confused as to what is happening right now? Or you've probably guessed! Either way, you'll find out for sure in the next chapter and prepare yourself for some _serious _NaLu fluff and romance and mind numbing cuteness in the next chapter :3

Also, I wasn't 100% sure how Fried's power worked, but I think I've got it down more or less to what it's meant to be able to do...right?

AND OMG OVER 200 REVIEWS

YOU GUYS ARE TOO NICE TO ME I SWEAR!

I should do something nice for you :3

And, Brit (Chiaka-san) who asked if I would mind if you did some fanart for this fic…PLEASE GO AHEAD AND DO IT! I WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO SEE IT!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 11**

"H-Hello?" she called uncertainly into the darkness, "Natsu…Juvia…hello-woah" she tripped slightly on the hem of her dress and pulled it up at the waist to stop her from furthering injuring herself. It fit her perfectly, and if she hadn't been so confused, scared, and angry she probably would've taken the time to admire her reflection. The dress hugged at her waist tightly, accentuating her curves and already large bust. Hidden behind the dress she had found a pair of dark purple heels that she slipped on easily, giving her a few extra inches. Once she had donned the fancy tiara, the odd green light that encased her immediately dropped and the door to the closet opened on it's own accord. That was freaky, and she'd been tempted not to leave the safety of the closet. The claustrophobia was getting to her however, so she had tentatively left the closet and stepped into the darkened corridor. She had been expecting to see Juvia waiting outside for her, no there was no sign of anyone.

"If…" she gulped as she turned a corner, "if…this is some sort of joke, you can stop now…" she yelled down the corridor, "it's not funny!"

Silence.

"Hmph, well fine," she huffed angrily, picking up the train of her dress even higher. She didn't know what this about, and quite frankly she didn't care. If Natsu wanted to try and play stupid tricks on her, so be it, but she wasn't going to simply walk into it.

"I'm going to bed," she mumbled to no-one in particular, and she started making the familiar route back to her bedroom. Truth be told, she felt a little hurt. Natsu playing a trick on her was one thing, but getting Juvia involved was a whole new ball park. She sighed loudly as she began to carefully step down a flight of stairs. She was simply a source of money and entertainment to these people, to think they were friends was extremely naïve on her part and-

"**SURPRISE**"

She screamed. Very loudly. A few windows were broken due to her screams. As if by magic, which she reminded herself it probably was, the room she was standing in was suddenly illuminated and she was able to get a view of the people standing before her. She didn't recognise a large majority of them, but she could guess where they were from. A large white banner hung from one end of the large room to the other, and in big red letters she read the words, _**HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY**_, and underneath that was a large Fairy Tail symbol. She frowned…it wasn't her birthday…But before she had time to dwell on that one minor discrepancy, she was suddenly engulfed by a mass of people, all screaming,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" to her and commenting on how nice they thought she looked.

"Lucy, you look wonderful!" Mirajane cooed as she managed to extract Lucy from the mad group of people, "I was worried that I bought the wrong size, but it fits you perfectly!"

"T-th-thanks Mira," she stammered, "but…what is this all about?" she was still in shock. And who could blame her? In the space of a few hours she had been locked into two closets, wandered around an almost pitch black castle on her own, and then been bombarded by a group of people claiming to be celebrating her birthday…_and it wasn't even her birthday!_

Mira smiled widely, "your birthday of course!"

"But, Mira, it's not my-"

"Oooh, look there's Erza, doesn't she look nice? Erza! Over here!"

Before Lucy had the chance to inform Mirajane that it was not her birthday, and she had no idea what was even being celebrated, Erza waltzed up to them.

"Erza? You look _fantastic_!" Lucy gasped as she got a good look at the older woman. Normally whenever she had seen Erza, she had been decked out in her usual armour, and Lucy had begun to wonder if she even owned any other clothing. Clearly she did, for now she was dressed in a tight off white, thigh length dress. It was strapless and Lucy had to wonder how she managed not to spill out, clearly Erza had signed some sort of deal with gravity. There was a slight slit on the dress on her left thigh that gave her room to move. She looked angelic.

"No, no, Lucy. I pale in comparison when stood next to you. Any Prince shall be lucky to call you his own!"

Lucy blushed, "thank you Erza, but I still think you look very nice."

"It is an honour to be given a compliment by someone of your status," she bowed theatrically, "I will treasure it forever!"

"That really isn't necessary," Lucy said nervously. Out of all the Fairy Tail members she had met, Erza was the only one who seemed to have difficulty not treating Lucy like the Princess she was. Erza ignored her and continued speaking,

"How are you enjoying your party? I must admit, I was surprised when he told us it was your birthday so soon, you never mentioned it."

"That's because it's not my-"

"…but he put this little party together in your honour. Though I did have to punish him for locking you in the wrong closet, he can be so dense sometimes…"

Lucy discreetly zoned out of Erza's conversation, the red haired woman could _really _talk sometimes. She began searching the room for a familiar face. Erza's words had reminded her that _she _needed to punish a certain pink haired boy for locking her in the closet. And she decided she needed to have words with Juvia as well. Someone had put on some music and the hall was full of people dancing, talking, and eating.

"So, this is Fairy Tail, huh?" she mused aloud as she stared at variation of characters who were milling around. A grin stretched across her face, they all gave off such a loving and welcoming atmosphere, it made her feel as if she were at home.

"Yes, these are my children," a gruff sounding voice spoke out.

"Eh?" Lucy swivelled around on the spot, trying to find the person to whom the mysterious voice belonged too. She heard a low chuckle and then she felt someone tugging on her dress. With a frown, she looked downwards and saw…_a midget_? He laughed even harder at her confused expression.

"Aha yes, my size is not one you would expect for a Master of a Guild, is it?"

"Master?"

He extended a hand and Lucy crouched down ever so slightly so she could shake it, "I am Master Makarov, the Master of the Guild you know as Fairy Tail!" he said it with such pride in his voice, that Lucy couldn't help but smile with him. It was obvious that he cared a lot for the Mages surrounding them. Suddenly, a little light bulb flickered to life in her brain,

"Makarov! Oh, you're the Mage who put me under the spell?"

"Yes that would be me, though I'm afraid I didn't do it strong enough," he gestured towards her, "for you are awake. My apologies."

"Eh heh, it's no problem really, I mean at first I was a bit worried about being awake, but it's not really that bad."

The Master nodded his head to her words, "good, good. And I trust Natsu hasn't been causing you too much trouble?"

At the mention of Natsu's name, her vision clouded slightly and she scowled. The Master chuckled once more.

"Apparently not. He is a bit of a handful isn't he? You get used to him after a while though, right?"

"Hmph. You haven't seen him have you? I want to….erm…talk to him about something…"

The Master practically hooted with laughter at those words, "oh dear, what has he done now? You've got the same expression on your face that Erza get's when she's about to punish him for something! He's over there by the snack table," he gestured to a long white table that was bursting with tasty looking foods, "try not to be too harsh on him, it is a party after all!"

Lucy assured the Master that she wouldn't go over the top and politely excused herself from his presence. She could see the back of his head as she stormed angrily towards the table.

"Natsu!" she growled angrily, earning the attention of everyone in the vicinity, including him.

"Huh?" he said as he whirled around to find Lucy stomping over to him. He gulped, she was going to kill him.

_I'm going to kill him_, she squealed gleefully to herself as she got closer and closer.

"How dare you lo-" her mouth fell open in shock as she finally got a good look at him.

He looked shy, and she had never seen that side of him before. Her anger at him began to slowly fade as she noticed the faint blush on his cheeks. He was just as dressed up as she was and she couldn't help but liken his appearance to that of a Prince…or perhaps a King. He wore a dark purple shirt, with a light orange waist coat and a red and white cape was draped over that. It sounded like an odd combination of colours, but for some reason they worked perfectly. He had on a pair of silky black trousers that were tucked into a pair of shiny black boots. She had never seen him look so good and she guessed that Mira or someone had helped him with this, for she was sure he just didn't have the patience to get dressed like this.

"H-Hey, Luce," he mumbled nervously, taking a tentative step closer to her.

"Hi…" she breathed out quietly, forgetting that she was supposed to punch him into oblivion for locking her in a closet - surprise party or not, she wasn't about to tolerate that sort of behaviour!

"You…you…um…sorry," he apologised, taking another step closer to her, he didn't know what was wrong with him. He _never _stuttered or stumbled over his words, they was just not something Natsu did. Maybe Juvia when near Gray, but definitely not him. She let out a small gasp as he took another step closer towards her, they were now so close she could feel his hot breath along the exposed nape of her neck.

"You look _really _nice Luce," he admitted, grinning up at her, "you look like a Princess."

She chuckled nervously, "well…I _am…_and you don't look too bad either," she complimented him, taking note of the way his face lit up at her simple compliment. They stood staring at each other for a few long seconds,

_When did he get so…so handsome_? Lucy asked herself in confusion, she had always seen a sort of mild sex appeal with Natsu, but right now he looked positively dashing. She felt a small twinge of jealousy as she watched a few women nod at Natsu appreciatively as they walked by.

_When did she get so…so beautiful? _Natsu asked himself in awe as he allowed his eyes to roam her perfect body once more. He knew she was pretty, of course he did. He wasn't blind, but never had she looked as beautiful as she did right now. The appreciative looks from his fellow male Guild members as they walked past her didn't go unnoticed by him, and he felt strangely protective over her.

"Do you wanna dance?" he suddenly blurted out, spurred on by the fact that he could see Loki making his way over to where they stood. Natsu liked Loki, he was a good friend and powerful comrade, but his reputation as "ladies man" bothered Natsu a little bit, he didn't want Lucy to simply be one of Loki's latest conquests. She was better than that. She deserved better than that.

"Huh?" she cocked her head to the side, "what did you say, Natsu?"

He cleared his throat again, "I said, do you want to dance?"

"_Yes!_" she squeaked quickly, hoping she didn't sound too eager, "I…I mean…yes…that would be nice."

With a friendly grin, he grabbed her hand and dragged her gently to the middle of the dance floor.

_Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, _Lucy repeated frantically in her mind as she let Natsu drag her onto the area that had been cleared as the dance floor, _I'm dancing with Natsu…snap out of it Lucy! He's just a friend wanting a dance, it's a perfectly normal thing to do…right? _As they walked through the room, Lucy allowed her gaze to drift on the other people who were dancing. Most of the Guild members were either sitting at tables, simply enjoying their friends company, but a fair few were on the dance floor. Some where clustered in large groups, but others had separated into little couples and were twisting and turning on the dance floor.

She saw Levy first. The small woman looked very pretty. Her blue hair had been pulled up into a tight bun, with a few stray locks falling in front of her face. She was wearing a simple short red dress that hugged at her small curves, and a pair of pointy black heels that gave her the height she always wanted and empathised her shapely legs. She was giggling cutely as she was spun around in the arms of a tall man Lucy had never met before. He was wearing a dark gray suit and from what she could see, his face and ears were covered in piercing. He looked positively terrifying in Lucy's opinion, but if he made Levy happy then she would be happy for her friend. Not too far away from Levy she noticed Gray and Juvia. A little giggle escaped her lips as she realised that although Gray was wearing smart trouser bottoms and a long sleeved smart white shirt, he couldn't resist undoing the buttons of his shirt to reveal his chiselled chest. It appeared his stripping habit wasn't one that could be stopped entirely. He wasn't dancing, instead he was talking animatedly with an extremely red looking Juvia. She was wearing a long flowing sea blue dress that, when she moved, gave the impression as if she was wearing the ocean. Lucy grinned as she realised that the two were holding hands, _ah so that explains Juvia's blush_. It was no secret to anyone that Juvia had a crush on the Ice Mage and Lucy was happy that finally, after years of pining after him, things were happening between the two. She spotted Mira sitting at a table with a man with green hair who she did not recognise, but judging by the smiles on both their faces, Lucy assumed it was safe to say that they were getting along _very _well.

"You okay Luce? You seem…distracted…" Natsu asked uncertainly, wondering why Lucy was looking everywhere around the room, apart from him.

Lucy jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, truth be told she had been so wrapped up in the various antics around her, she had forgotten about Natsu.

"I'm fine," she muttered quietly, feeling all too aware of the fact that they were standing in the middle of the dance floor and were not dancing. She cleared her throat awkwardly and lifted stiff arms into the air and plonked them down ungraciously on his shoulders, the way she had seen her mother do to her father when she was younger. Natsu reacted just as stiffly and awkwardly placed his hands on her hips. They stood like that for a while, each of them avoiding the others gaze.

"Um…I think we're doing it wrong," Lucy eventually said with a shy smile on her face. Natsu laughed nervously and nodded in agreement, _what the hell is wrong with me_? He yelled at himself mentally, he was not normally this shy. Shy and Natsu were just two words that never mixed, and yet here he was, acting like a shy kid in front of Lucy. With a determined nod to himself, he quickly tightened his hold on her waist and pulled her body closer to his, eliciting a small cry of shock from Lucy, whose own arms instinctively wrapped themselves around his neck.

"N-Natsu?"

"We have to get closer if we're gonna dance," he said simply, his face turned into her neck so she couldn't see how red he had gotten.

"O-O-Oh, I guess," she gulped, "I guess that's okay."

"I thought you'd be mad at me," he said cheerfully as he held her, and she felt her earlier anger returning.

"I _was_," she empathsized her anger by punching him lightly on the shoulder, "you locked me in a closet, do you know how scared I was?"

He laughed nervously, "um…well it was the only way I could think of getting you in the dress…"

She opened her mouth to retort angrily back at him that he could have found about a hundred better ways to execute his plan, but he began swaying on the spot and she instinctively ducked her head into the crook of his neck. She was secretly glad that he wasn't able to see her own burning face. He had a strange affect on her body. Even the light touch he had on her waist was sending her blood pressure rocketing, and she was sure he could hear her heart beat. It was so loud, how could he not hear it? After a few minutes of discomfort and embarrassment, Lucy found that she did not want to let go. She felt safe in his arms, as if there was nothing that could hurt her. For a while, she forgot that she was a Princess and he was effectively her Dragon. She wasn't in a castle surrounded by the Guild members of Fairy Tail. She was in her own little world that only consisted of her and Natsu, and she wanted it to stay that way. If she hadn't been so wrapped up in her own little world, she would've noticed Levy and Mirajane sending over exaggerated winks her way.

Despite the feeling of contentment he felt, Natsu was still very much in reality and was more than capable of spotting the winks and gestures his fellow Guild mates were sending his way.

"Stop it!" he hissed furiously towards Loki who had begun winking and making gestures in Natsu's direction. However, instead of getting Loki and the others to stop their acts, it was Lucy who pulled away from his body slightly,

"Sorry…" she mumbled, thinking he was talking to her, "I'll um, I- _Natsu!" _she cried as he suddenly grabbed her hand and tore out of the hall and onto the balcony just outside.

"What are you doing?" she growled as they stepped out onto the balcony, her previous anger with the salmon haired man was quickly returning. It was much colder outside and she instinctively wrapped her arms around her body to keep her warm. Natsu at least had the decency to try and look sheepish.

"Erm, I was getting too hot in there," he lied feebly, knowing that the look of total disbelief on her face was completely apt.

"You are a _fire Dragon Slayer_," she said curtly, already getting round to re-enter the warm hall, "you don't get too hot. I'm going back inside," she pushed down on the handle of the door but stopped as Natsu shouted out,

"Wait!"

He didn't really know what made him shout it, or why he felt a funny clenching feeling in his stomach, all he knew was that he was glad that she _did _stop and turn around and look at him. She stared at him for a few seconds before taking a tiny step forwards,

"Natsu, what is this all about?" she extended a hand towards the party raging on beyond the door, "it's not my birthday…I mean this is a lovely gesture and everything but-"

Natsu frowned and took a step towards her, "yes it is, Luce."

"I know I was asleep for a while, but I think I would remember my _own _birthday," she huffed angrily, taking another unconscious step towards the boy. It was as if their bodies had a sort of magnetic pull, because they were slowly inching closer and closer towards each other. Natsu shook his head and grinned at her, and she was sure that one little action took her breathe away. He looked so…happy.

"Not your _actual_ birthday…I don't know when that is actually…sorry," he added, in case she got annoyed by that fact, "but, well…this is the day you got put in this castle. The day we met actually, even though you were asleep so you didn't meet me, but I met you and-"

They were extremely close now, so close that Lucy barely had to stretch to place her forefinger on his lips to silence him.

"You're rambling," she explained as he shot her a questioning gaze. She dropped her finger and smiled shyly up at him, "this is really sweet of you Natsu."

Natsu blushed, something he was becoming prone to do whenever in her presence, "erm, well, I just thought since you were awake you might want to meet some of the rest of the Guild, so I thought 'hey why not on her birthday?' and I told Mira, and she thought it was a good idea and she told the rest of the Guild and they were all really eager to me you and so-"

"You're rambling again," she giggled lightly, "you're cute when you get flustered!" with a small "eep", she clamped her hand over mouth, sure she would gladly admit in her mind that Natsu held some appeal to her, but _never _did she want to say that to him. It didn't seem to bother Natsu however, instead his grin widened,

"I think you're pretty cute too," he admitted, taking a final step towards her, they were so close that she could feel his warm breath on her skin, "I lied earlier when I said you looked nice."

"W-what?" she stammered, her heart practically stopping at his words.

"I don't think you look nice-"

"Natsu, please, this is mea-"

"I think you look beautiful."

They stood, staring at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity to Lucy.

"You…you…you think I'm…_beautiful_?" she asked him in shock. As a child, her mother had often cooed to her about how much of a beautiful child she was, but she had said it in the same motherly tone all mothers used when talking to their young children. With Natsu, it was different, it felt like he truly meant it.

"Yeah…"

She looked into his eyes and saw a sort of burning fire in them. All at once, the memories of her dream earlier on came flooding to her, and she felt a strange tugging to make her dream a reality. The pair began to inch their faces closer and closer towards one another…

"Luce," he purred, his lips only inches away from her own. She could feel the heat he naturally emitted and she wanted more.

"Natsu," she muttered back. This was it, their lips were about to touch, she could feel her heartbeat racing at one hundred miles an hour, she could feel the mutual attraction they had for another, she could-

"LU-CHAAAAAN!"

Almost as if they'd been slapped, Natsu and Lucy broke apart from each other and jumped round to find Levy standing by the door to get onto the balcony. Well, at least she had the decency to look sorry for interrupting their moment.

"Oh, um…was intruding?"

"No! No, you weren't!" Lucy yelped quickly, waving her arms in front of her blushing face. Levy raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Are you sure, because I can always come back later and-"

"Nah, it's fine Levy. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Lucy. I gotta speak to Gray about something, see ya later Luce," Natsu said cheerfully as he sidestepped Lucy and Levy before making his way back to the party inside. As soon as the balcony door was clicked shut, Levy pounced on Lucy like a lion snatching its prey.

"So…what was _that _about, eh Lu-chan?" Levy waggled her eyebrows and shot Lucy was knowing wink, "you and Natsu were getting a bit close, hm?"

Lucy shook her head, "haha, me and Natsu? Hahahahaha, that's a good one Levy, me and Natsu, HA!" she ignored Levy's patronising stare and walked towards the door, "now come on, we're missing the party!"

_Did I almost just kiss __**Natsu**__? _she asked herself as they walked back into the throng of dancing friends, _oh Lucy, what are you doing? _

.

.

"I wanted to thank you, Natsu."

"Thank me? For what?"

They were standing outside their respective bedroom doors, the party was long over, their friends -new and old- had departed, and once again they were alone in the castle. Well, Happy was there. But he had collapsed in exhaustion a few hours ago.

"You're always doing so much for me, you cheered me up when I…I found out about my mother, you're always making me laugh, and now this. You really do too much for me,"

"Don't worry about it Luce, what are best friends for?" Natsu grinned.

"Best friends…" she repeated slowly, "I like the sound of that!" without waiting for him to say anything else, she strode purposefully up to him and placed a quick but firm kiss on his left cheek, "thank you, Natsu," she murmured as she pulled away and scurried off to her room, trying not to let him see the blush she had gained from doing such a trivial thing. She ducked into her room and closed her door firmly. If she had calmed herself down and turned around, she would've seen Natsu standing there with an equally red face. But with a grin that stretched for miles as he gently touched the space where her lips had been minutes prior.

"G'night Luce," he murmured to her door, before disappearing into his own room.

.

.

She had difficulty getting to sleep that night. Every time she closed her eyes, the grinning face of Natsu would swarm her vision and she would jump up with a start.

"Get a hold of yourself Lucy," she told herself sternly as she rolled around in her blankets, "Natsu's just a friend, your _best _friend. Having romantic thoughts about him is highly out of the question! Plus, you're waiting for the Prince of your dreams…remember that!" with that thought in mind, she began to drift off into a deep slumber.

_I won't allow myself to fall for Natsu!_

However, as much as she tried to deny it, she was already falling and there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

**A/N: **Ugh, this chapter took so long to write and it's so long *_* I had so many ideas for this chapter, and I wanted to put them all in but it just seemed really clustered so I took a few out and ugh, I'm not sure if it worked…or maybe it did, and I'm just being overly picky, who knows?

EDIT: Oh my God, blueerrghhh okay, I fixed the typo that everyone else picked up but me! That was really embarrassing, I know my grammar and spelling isn't always perfect but oh my God that was a really embarrassing typo .


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 12**

He'd been travelling for days. Twenty, _long,_ days to be precise, but his journey was finally over. With a cocky grin, he slapped the rear of his horse, slapping it into action. The horse neighed loudly before galloping off down the large hill. He was dressed from head to toe in shiny and sturdy looking armour, and he had a sharpened blade attached to his side. Many Princes had passed through the town looking to rescue the Princess, but none could even hold a torch to the man who would be attempting the feat today. He was strong, determined, and extremely good looking.

"I'm coming for you, Princess!" he yelled into the distance, causing a few birds to take flight from their trees. Failure was not even an option for this particular Prince. Or so he thought.

* * *

Lucy sighed lightly as she sat in front of the homemade memorial stone for her mother. A light breeze blew through the air, causing the leaves of the Sakura tree above her to dance slowly in the wind. A couple light pink leaves fell from their branches and floated around the stone. What with the leaves blowing around her, and the dim glow the setting sun was giving off, she couldn't help but think that this was a perfect moment. Or…an _almost _perfect moment, she amended quickly in her head and she remembered the reason she had come to this place in the first place. With another sigh, she shuffled forward and gently traced her fingers over the text that had been indented in the stone.

"I wish you were here," she murmured as her fingers finished tracing the name 'Layla', "you'd know what to do, wouldn't you?"

She gulped thickly as she was suddenly overcome with a wave of emotion, "I…I just really need you right now," she admitted, her hands dropping away from the stone and fisting themselves tightly in the grass beneath her. She'd never felt so confused and angry with herself in all her life.

"I need someone to talk to," she tried to talk about her problems with Mirajane and Levy when they had popped round earlier that day, but that had only ended in fits of giggles and lewd comments from the two Fairy Tail Mages, and she knew that was a lost cause. She then turned to Erza, but that was just as bad Mira and Levy. It became clear to Lucy, that Erza was just as helpless in this particular topic as Lucy. Surprisingly, the only person who had been of any help to her at all was Juvia. Lucy allowed herself a small smile as she remembered the Water Mage's helpful words,

"_Juvia thinks that Lucy-san should do whatever she feels is right in her heart. For Lucy-san will never be happy unless she does so!"_

"Do you think I should do what's in my heart? Hm, Mama?" she asked the silent stone and then giggled sadly, "sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?"

She stared at the cold stone and smiled weakly at it, envisioning that her mother was sitting there instead, smiling, nodding, and listening to her every word. She nibbled her lower lip and glanced around, as if to check that nobody was about to jump out and scare her. When she was satisfied that she was indeed alone, she returned her attentions back to the memorial stone.

"I think I like him," she blurted out before clamping her hands over her mouth in mortification. She paused for a few moments before removing her shaking hands and smiling apologetically at the stone,

"Are you mad at me Mama? Am I disappointing you? I know you and Daddy wanted me to marry a Prince, didn't you? And here I am, falling for the one person I'm definitely _not _supposed to be falling for," she laughed nervously, a few stray tears falling down her cheeks, "I'm so confused, Mama…I wish you were here, you'd tell me what to do…you'd put me on the right track, wouldn't you? I just need someone to tell what to do…" she bowed her head and began to cry freely. She was so frustrated.

Frustrated with herself for having these mutinous feelings.

Frustrated with Natsu for being the cause of these feelings.

And frustrated with every single damn Prince Natsu had beaten. Why, oh why, couldn't any of them been strong enough to beat him? That sure as hell would've spared her a lot of unnecessary torment. The breeze picked up and became heavier, but she stayed in position, crouched in front of her mothers grave, crying her confused little heart out. Her tears stopped suddenly and her breath caught in her throat as she felt the wind begin to caress her face gently. She knew it was the wind and she tried to tell herself that, but she couldn't help but think the soft caress of the wind felt all too much like the way she would imagine her mother would caress and comfort her if she were alive right now. All of a sudden, Juvia's words from earlier came to the forefront of her mind,

"_Juvia thinks that Lucy-san should do whatever she feels is right in her heart. For Lucy-san will never be happy unless she does so!"_

"Y-you think I should do what's in my heart as well?" she asked out loud, pretending her mother was here listening to her, "even if it's not what you and Daddy wanted?" the wind caressed her cheeks again and she smiled and leant into it, "thank you Mama," she murmured, imagining her mother was hugging her and telling her to do what her heart wanted, "thank you."

She wasn't 100% sure when exactly she knew she began to fall for Natsu. Was it that first quick, and pretty bad, kiss they shared where he woke her up? Or was it that day he had saved from falling down the cliff? Could it have been when he had kindly taught her how to swim? Maybe it was when he had spent the night comforting her after she learnt about her mothers death and when he took the time to make her a memorial stone? Perhaps it was the party he had organised and thrown for her? He had most definitely been extremely appealing to her on that day. She shook her head in confusion as she made her way back to the castle. She couldn't pinpoint a time when she began to develop feelings for him. It could have been any of those time, or just as likely it could have been any of the hundreds of times he reduced her into giggling fits because of his idiocy, or the many times she and him simply sat in the castle and spoke to each other. In the short while since she'd been awake, she already knew so much about him she was sure she could fill books with all the information she had learnt.

She knew that he was looking forward to meeting his father, Igneel, again. She knew that he treated Master Makarov like his grandfather, and was eternally grateful to the old man for everything he had done for him. She knew that Happy was like a brother to him, despite their difference in species. She knew that Gray was his second friend, and although they fought like cat and mouse, he would gladly give his life for the Ice Mage. His first friend had been a girl named Lisanna, and from the way he spoke about her, Lucy knew she was a special person in his life that he missed greatly. She knew that Erza was quite possibly the only person who could actually scare him into submission. She knew that as well as finding Igneel, it was one of his ambitions to beat a man named Gildarts. But she didn't just know the things he had told her, she knew things that one could only learn after careful observation. Like the way he liked to dress up and pretend he was a ninja, screaming "NIN-NIN!" Or the way he had a terrible memory for remembering faces. Or the way his face would light up in joy whenever he described his Guild and Guild mates. She even knew that he preferred to eat his food with his hands because, "_it preserves the taste_!" than with a knife and fork like a civilised person. He had even told her his greatest weakness,

"_I have motion sickness…_"

He confessed to her one night. She had laughed and laughed for hours after hearing the piece of information. Who would have thought that _Natsu_, the big strong Fire Dragon Slayer would have such a pathetic weakness. Secretly, she found it kinda of cute, but she hadn't said that to him of course.

She frowned to herself as she re-entered the castle. Maybe that was what she liked about him. The fact that she knew almost everything about him, she knew his weakness and his strengths. She knew what to say to make him laugh, she knew what to say to annoy him, and she knew what to say to make him happy. Wasn't that what you were supposed to look for in a loved one? Her frown deepened as she walked along the corridor. Suddenly all her previous preconceptions of love and romance in general seemed horribly wrong. She didn't even know how she could have thought that being woken up by a kiss from a strange man was even the least bit romantic. Now she thought about it, it sounded downright creepy. The sound of heavy footsteps distracted her attention and she turned around to find the object of her confusion, Natsu, running down the corridor after her. His face stretched into a wide grin as he finally noticed her.

"Oh, there you were Lucy. I haven't seen you all day"

She nodded and smiled at him, "hey, I was outside talking to my mum, guess I lost track of time, huh?"

He frowned slightly, but covered it quickly by smiling once more, "is everything alright Luce?"

"Of course it is!" she lied, "now stop being so annoying and asking stupid questions, geez!" she turned him around and began to push him down the corridor, "I'm hungry!"

Just like she knew he would, he began moaning at her to stop pushing him and asking her why on Earth she was so moody. She allowed herself a small smile as she shoved him into the kitchen. Although she was relatively sure of her feelings towards the boy, she still wasn't sure of his. He was difficult to read, and she refused to ruin their friendship by doing something stupid like jumping him in the corridor.

* * *

The Prince lifted up the lid to his metal helmet and wiped some of the sweat off his face. His moist lips curled upwards into a victorious grin. He had made it. A few yards in front of him stood the large building he had been searching for. The castle in which the Princess slept, guarded by a fearsome dragon. With a groan, he hopped off his horse and tied it to a nearby tree, he didn't want to chance the horse chickening out when it saw the dragon. He slammed the helmet down and began to move towards the castle. Behind his helmet, he wore a predatory grin, this was his big chance and he was not going to fail. Or so he thought.

* * *

"So, you gonna tell me what's wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?" Lucy wrinkled her nose in badly disguised disgust as she watched Natsu scoop some lasagne out of the tub -with his hands- and stick it in his mouth. Because his mouth was full, all she heard was an indistinct murmur. She waited patiently for him to swallow the mouthful,

"I said, are you gonna tell me what's wrong? I'm not stupid Luce, you look pretty upset about something?"

Lucy smiled and shook her head, "not upset…just…confused, but it's nothing you need to worry about. Just eat your food and try not to spit any over the table!"

"Yes, _honey_," Natsu sneered before sticking his hands back into the lasagne and grabbing another mouthful. He was so enthralled with his food, he did not notice the way Lucy began to blush at the word.

"D-don't call me that!" she yelled angrily, devoting her attention back to her food. Earlier on in the day, when they'd been visiting, Mira had let out the sly comment that she thought sometimes Natsu and Lucy acted like an old married couple. Lucy had reacted by spluttering her disagreements, whereas Natsu had apparently thought the whole comparison was absolutely hilarious and had begun to use little nicknames on her.

"Why, _sweet cheeks?" _he purred, dropping his lasagne and shooting Lucy a predatory grin, he slowly began to shuffle his chair closer to her.

"I said stop it, Natsu!"

"Don't you like my nicknames for you, hm _babe_?" he was ridiculously close to her now, she could feel his knee brushing against her own.

"Stop it Natsu, I don't find it funny!"

Natsu huffed in annoyance, "aw come on Luce, you're no fun to mess with, it was just a joke, jeez."

"Not a very funny joke!" she retorted angrily, still well aware of how close they sat next to each other.

"Lighten up, man. I thought it was funny when Mira said it, I never realised that we acted like that until today, did you?" he turned and faced Lucy once more and noticed she had an odd look on her face. He sighed, taking the odd look to mean that she was still annoyed by his little joke.

"Relax Lucy, can you even imagine us as husband and wife?" he cackled lightly.

"Why are you laughing?" Lucy snapped in defence, "would I be such a bad wife?"

Still laughing, Natsu shook his head, "nah, you'd be a great wife, especially for me, it would be perfect-"

Lucy gulped and tried to ignore the fact that her heart was beating like a drum and the room had begun to feel awfully hot. _Is this is? _she asked herself, _is he going to confess…is he going to admit he likes me?_

"But it wouldn't work," he continued, causing Lucy's heart to plummet to the ground, as if someone had thrown it off the tallest mountain they could find.

"And…and w-why wouldn't it work?" she asked, her voice cracking under the threat of tears. Natsu grinned, tugging his chair closer to her, it seemed as if he had no concept of personal space at all. Lucy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Nah, we're completely different," his eyes gained a cloudy shadow, as if he were deep in thought about something and his lips began to droop as if he were sad, "you're a Princess, I'm just the 'dragon' whose keeping you captive. It would never work between us…you're too good for me," he finished quietly, as if the admonition was causing him some internal pain.

"Don't say that," she growled out fiercely, grabbing his waistcoat and tugging him back to her so she could see his face, "please don't say that Natsu," she finished in a quieter tone of voice. Natsu shrugged,

"Why? It's true. Imagine what your parents would say if they found out that you ran off with the dragon?" he scoffed and shook his head.

"I think…I think that they'd be happy for me as long as I was happy myself. Even…" she paused before bravely continuing on, "even if it was with the dragon instead of the Prince…"

"Luce…"

She refused to break his vision, it was like the night of the party all over again. She could feel something pulling her closer and closer to him and she knew she didn't want to fight it. They got closer than they did at the party this time. Their eyes were shut, and their noses brushed against each other, enticing a small giggle from Lucy as she felt his warm breath upon her face.

"Lucy," he murmured, hovering just over her lips, it was as if he was giving her a chance to pull away and act like this had never happened. She wasn't taking that chance. She tugged harder on his waistcoat, demanding that he continue what he started. If her eyes had not been closed, she would have noticed the grin on his face at her insistency. He dipped his head a fraction lower, ready to make the final leap that would press his lips against her but the distinct and rather familiar sound of a sword being scraped along the concrete walls of the castle reached their ears, and they both bit back annoyed groans of frustration. They took a pulled away from each other and Natsu gave her a sheepish grin,

"I'll be right back," he promised before hopping off his seat and rushing out of the kitchen. The moment had been ruined, Lucy knew, but she couldn't help but laugh as she heard him growl in frustration that they had been interrupted. Lucy swung around on her seat and replayed what had just transpired between Natsu and herself. With a sheepish grin, she pressed her fingertips to her lips. Sure, they had not kissed, but she had definitely felt his warm breath fanning over her lips and that was something she wanted to burn into memory.

She was amazed at her daring, but was happy with the result nonetheless. This at least confirmed that Natsu held some sort of feelings for her…right?

"He _did _start flirting with me first," she reasoned with herself, before worrying that she was reading his signs wrong. She shook her head firmly. She knew Natsu, he wasn't a jerk and he would never lead someone on to the point of kissing them, would he?

In the near distance, she could hear the sound of Natsu yelling at the Prince and she allowed a smile to grace her lips. He would easily defeat the Prince, come back down to the kitchen and then they could get back to business. Right?

.

.

An hour later and she was still sitting in the kitchen. Alone and biting her bottom lip nervously. She could still hear the battle raging on and for the first time since she had awoken, she began to fear that Natsu might lose. Never had he been gone for so long fighting against a Prince. It was always just a simple Fire Dragon's Fist here and then a Roar of the Fire Dragon there, and _bam _the Prince was out for the count.

_What if he doesn't come back? What if he loses? _A sly voice asked her.

"He will come back. He has to come back," she counter argued into the silence of kitchen, trying her best to ignore the pained roars she heard in the distance. The roars of pain that sounded suspiciously like Natsu's voice.

* * *

He had started it off like normal. The cocky Prince had demanded that Natsu get out of his way so he could defeat the dragon. Natsu had laughed and stood his ground. The Prince gave him one last warning before brandishing his sword and pointing it towards Natsu's neck. Natsu grinned grimly and without a word of warning, shot a breath of fire towards the Prince.

Like always, the Prince stared at Natsu in confusion. This wasn't what he was expecting at all, he was expecting a full fledged dragon, not some kid who could breathe fire.

"I'd advise you to leave now, unless you wanna get burnt," Natsu yawned lazily as he watched the Prince size him up, "I'm not letting you have Lucy, so scram!"

The Prince scoffed and raised his sword once more, "if you think I'm about to turn back now, you are sorely mistaken. I'm here for the Princess, you are just another nuisance, I will not hesitate to cut you down."

"Try me," Natsu growled angrily, deciding then and there that he was going to pound this particular Prince into oblivion. He had a certain air about him that just read, "Complete Jerk", and he'd been damned if he was going to hand Lucy off to someone like him. The Prince smiled cockily and crouched down low,

"As you wish," he muttered before completely disappearing from Natsu's line of vision.

"Wha-arghhh!" Natsu roared as he felt something hard connect with his gut, and he was sent flying across the room, "what the hell was that?" he yelled as he finally managed to stand up and survey his surroundings. The Prince was standing in front of him once more, and this time his grin was even wider.

"Do not underestimate me. I am a trained Mage as well as a Prince._ Speed Magic _is my forte!"

If the situation hadn't been so dire, Natsu probably would have let out a dramatic groan. It was just his luck that the only Prince smart enough to learn magic had decided to learn Speed Magic of all things. The only Speed Magic user Natsu knew was Jet of Fairy Tail, but he knew that Jet was extremely fast and hard to catch. Natsu narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Prince, he would need to think hard if he wanted to win this battle.

* * *

Her breath came out in sharp little pants as she ran along the corridor to reach where she assumed the fighting was going on. After almost two hours, and still no sign of Natsu she decided enough was enough. She knew how important it was that she stay hidden from the Princes, but right now she didn't care about that. She was worried. Worried that Natsu might be in real trouble. Truthfully, she felt guilty with herself for worrying about him, but she couldn't help it. She just had to know if he was okay, then she could go back into her hiding place and all would be well.

She rounded a corner and gasped, a large part of the castle had been completely and utterly destroyed. She could even feel a cold breeze from outside where the wall had been kicked through. Her eyes widened in horror as they zoned in on the scene playing out before her.

"Natsu!" she gasped as she watched a man clad in a metal armour kick Natsu, who was lying on the floor. Natsu let out a low moan of agony as the kick collided with his chest, and she winced. For Natsu to moan like that suggested that something was really wrong.

"I've had enough of you," the Prince growled through gritted teeth, underneath his armour he was sweating like a pig. He did not want to admit it, but the boy had put up a pretty damn good fight, it was a shame that he had to end his life now, he probably would have made a good contribution to his personal army. The Prince raised his sword high in the air and Lucy gasped,

"No…he wouldn't…" she began to stand up from her hiding place as the Prince began to slowly lower his sword over Natsu's writhing body, "no, no, no, NO! _NO, NO!" _she screamed as with a relish of malice, the Prince plunged his sword into Natsu's stomach.

"Hm?" the Prince looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of Lucy, "are you…the Princess?" he asked, feeling extremely pleased with himself that he had bagged such a pretty girl. Lucy ignored his question and began to make her way down the semi-destroyed staircase,

"Natsu, _please_! Please get up!" she screamed, tears running wild down her face, "Natsu, I _need _you! Natsu!" she continued screaming his name, begging him to stand up and brush the wound off as if it were nothing more than a scratch from Happy.

The Prince stared at Lucy in confusion, surely she couldn't be this upset over this ruffian?

"Natsu please! You said you'll be right back! You said! So come back, come back to me!"

The Prince laughed coldly at her words, "my dear Princess, I don't know what has gotten into you, but I think it's high time you-" he stopped speaking and with widened eyes, glanced down at the ground before him, "_you_?" he hissed in confusion.

"I told you…didn't I…" Natsu managed to wheeze out as his bloodied hands grabbed a hold of the sword that was plunged into his stomach, "you are not having Lucy!" with a roar mixed with pain and triumph, he tugged the sword out of his stomach, ignoring the way a large amount of blood followed.

"Natsu…" Lucy whimpered as she watched him sway unsteadily on his feet, blood was steadily dripping down his body, "…please…please stay alive…"

"What do you think you're doing? You would have done better to have pretended to stay dead!"

Natsu shook his head, "you're not taking Lucy. She deserves better than a jerk like you!"

The Prince sneered at him, "I'm afraid you have no say in the matter. It appears I was too kind to you, I should have just cut your head off, no worries, I won't be making the same mistake twice."

The Prince raised his sword high into the air and crouched down low, indicating he was going to use his Speed Magic once more.

Natsu frowned and he too crouched low, he could feel the room spinning and his vision was becoming rapidly blurry, if he didn't end this fight now he wasn't sure if he'd have another chance.

_For Lucy, _he told himself as he too crouched low, _I have to win for Lucy._

The Prince lunged forward and so did Natsu, bringing his fists behind him and setting them alight with fire.

The Prince cackled evilly at Natsu, "just give up boy, you'll never be fast enough to even scratch me!"

Natsu smirked, "that's what you think…" he increased the amount of power he was using to fuel the fire in his fists and the fire began to burn more brightly and faster.

"Wha-" was all the Prince managed to gasp about before Natsu was nothing but a blur to him, _aha I see, he's using the fire to propel his forward. Smart move. But not smart enough, nobody beats me in speed._

Although Natsu was nothing but a rapidly spinning blur in his eyes, the Prince was still able to keep an eye on him, thus knowing where he was at all times. With his quick footwork he managed to intercept Natsu and stop him in his tracks but pushing down on his head.

"I told you, that was a good move, but not good enough," the Prince gloated as he pushed down on Natsu, "you're just not fast enough for my eyes."

He expected Natsu to look up and groan in fear and frustration, but instead he just grinned.

"You fell for it," Natsu muttered.

"Excuse me?" the Prince asked in confusion, but before he had a chance to assess the situation, Natsu was bringing his hands forward again,

"_WINGS OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" _Natsu roared as he brought his arms round and clapped the Prince hard on the stomach, engulfing him in a powerful flame. Natsu hadn't been running around at top speed in circles trying to find and opening to punch the Prince, he'd been running around trying to by time to power up his fire to cause a lot of damage to him.

"What…what is this?" the Prince howled in agony as he pointlessly tried to bat the fire off of his, "WHAT IS THIS?" the smell of burning metal and then burning skin was in the air.

"I told you, you're not taking Lucy…" Natsu huffed, the room was spinning faster and faster now, "now…get…_out!" _with his last ounce of power, he aimed a powerfully aimed, fire fuelled kick into the Princes gut, sending him ricocheting through the broken walls of the castle, and into the dark night sky.

In the near distance, he could hear Lucy sighing in happiness that he had won, but he couldn't concentrate on that right now. All he could think about was the fact that the room was spinning far too fast for his likings, everything was going black, and the deep gash in his stomach was beginning to hurt quite a lot.

"_Natsu!" _Lucy screeched in fear as she watched the pink haired Mage collapse in a heap on the floor, "_Natsu…oh God…Natsu!"_

* * *

**A/N: **Ahah this is my favourite chapter so far ^_^ Although, a lot of you might hate me for it...review?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 13**

"Natsu…" Lucy whimpered as she ran down the stone steps to get to the pink haired dragon Mage who was currently lying in a bloody mess on the floor. Sure, he beat the damn Prince and had sent him flying, but he was badly injured and Lucy was in tears. She felt so useless. The phrase, "_damsel in distress" _echoed in her mind and it made her feel sick. She hated to realise that she relied on Natsu so much. Just once, _once_, she wanted to be the one to help him.

"Natsu…" she cried again as she finally reached him and collapsed onto her knees beside him, gently she stroked her hand through his pink hair, that was matted with blood and sweat. He struck her with a weak grin, that was probably meant to seem reassuring and cocky,

"Hey Luce," he croaked before wincing in pain and clutching at the large gash on his chest that was oozing too much blood for her liking. She quickly surveyed his body and realised that although his whole body was covered in bruises and shallow cuts, the gash on his chest was the most life threatening and she knew she needed to do something about that.

"S-shut up," she sobbed, quickly pressing her hands against the cut to stop the blood flow, "if you- you talk, you'll just injure yourself further". She bit her lip as she stared unhelpfully around the castle. If the Prince had just attacked earlier in the day then Erza and the rest of them would have been there to help her. As it stood, she was alone in the castle with not even Happy to help her heal her injured dragon.

"My…my room," he wheezed out, earning Lucy's attention once more, "I've got some medicine…to heal wounds in my room". When he had first taken up the job of guarding Lucy, he had been given some intense healing medicine by the Guild's healer, Porlyusica, it was meant to heal extremely bad wounds, like the one he had now, he had just never had any use of it until now.

Lucy nodded determinedly, "alright, what does it look like, I'll go get it and-"

Natsu shook his head fiercely, "don't leave me Luce…" he uttered quietly, and Lucy was sure her heart broke when she saw the look on his face. He looked like a frightened little kid, and she realised he must've been in a lot more pain than she originally thought.

"I _have _to go Natsu, I'll be back before you know it though," she promised him through her tears, but it appeared he wasn't having any of this for he grabbed a hold of her leg,

"No Luce," he groaned before propping himself up onto his elbows.

"Natsu!" she scolded as she watched him wince, trying to ignore the searing pain he could feel on his chest, "lay down please! You're just going to make the wound worse!"

But he refused to listen, not like he ever did anyway, and continued to stand up. By the time he was fully upright, he had lost all colour in his face, the blood was seeping out of his wound even worse than before, and he was wobbling on his legs. It looked like he was about to fall over so Lucy quickly grabbed his arm and threw it over her shoulders. He was much heavier than her, but she was able to shoulder his weight pretty well.

"Don't leave me on my own Luce," he mumbled again, clinging tighter onto her shoulders. He didn't want to be alone whilst he was injured, it reminded him too much of when he was younger and he would sit alone, injured in his room. It was horrible and he didn't want to relive that any time soon. Lucy saw the look of fear and apprehension in his face and nodded.

"I won't Natsu," she said softly, before carefully leading him back up the stairs to his room, she wanted to move faster because every couple of steps he let out a hiss of pain, but the one time she did try and speed up, he let out an anguished cry and she knew that going slower was best for him.

It took a little over fifteen minutes, but eventually she made it to his room. The door wasn't completely closed so she nudged it open with her foot, walked as quickly as possible into the room and deposited Natsu onto his bed. He let out a pain whimper as his back collided with the mattress. The whole right side of her body and clothing was drenched in his blood, due to him leaning on her.

"Natsu where is it? Where's the medicine?" she asked him frantically as she searched his messy shelves for something that looked distinctly like a medicine container. He said nothing for a few moments before he wheezed out,

"Chest…blue…tub…"

Deciphering his words quickly, she ran towards a red chest that sat in the far left corner of the room and wrenched it open. It was full of loads of medical equipment such as bandages, gauze, and strange tubs and containers. She took out the bandages, knowing that she would need them later, and then rummaged through the chest until she found a large blue tub. It was the only blue tub in the chest so she assumed it was the correct medicine, so she quickly hurried back to his side.

His breathing was becoming incredibly shallower by the second and she worried that he might not live. As quickly as possible, she unscrewed the tub and stuck her hand into the thick blue paste that lay inside it, then she pushed away any of the shreds of clothing he still wore and began to lather his gash with the blue paste. He winced a few times, and she guessed that the medicine must've stung.

"Sorry," she whispered, as she applied the final touches to the gash. She had to hand it to the medicine, it was very good. As soon as she began to apply it to his body, it begun glowing dimly in the dark and she could already see the skin around the cut was turning a dark brown, showing her that it was healing, and she assumed that it must've had some magical properties added to it. Life seemed to be returning to Natsu much quicker as well. The dull tinge he once wore on his cheeks was rapidly fading and was replaced with a healthy red glow.

"Lucy?" he called into the darkness after not hearing her voice or feeling her gentle touch for a while.

"I'm right here Natsu," she assured him, gripping his hand in her own, "I'm not going anywhere."

They sat in silence for a while, him lying on his bed, and her sitting perched on the end of it, clutching onto his hand for dear life. Eventually, he let out a weak chortle of laughter,

"This is new, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Before…you couldn't wait for a Prince to come rescue you, now you're trying to keep me alive," he paused for a moment and bit his lip, "why the change of heart?" he asked in a quieter tone of voice. Lucy hesitated before answering, how could she say her real answer? That she was slowly falling for him, and that she'd pick him any day, over a stuffy old Prince? Even in her mind, it sounded ridiculous.

"I…I didn't like the look of that Prince," she ended up mumbling lamely, earning herself a low chuckle from Natsu,

"He almost beat me, so far he's probably the best Prince that's come here. He'd protect you pretty well."

"You protect me pretty damn well!" Lucy huffed in frustration, leaning over his body so she could get a better look at him, "you protect me…don't you Natsu?"

Natsu frowned and slowly lifted up a hand and wrapped it gently around the back of her neck, "what are you saying Luce?"

There conversation in the kitchen came to the forefront of her mind, all of a sudden it seemed as if that discussion may have happened years ago. She blinked rapidly to try and push away her tears, "I don't know anymore," she admitted quietly, "I don't know what I want anymore," she fisted her hands into balls and grabbed the torn material of his shirt, "I got so scared, Natsu…so scared earlier on…I thought he was going to beat you…I thought you were going to die!"

"That's the whole point of this job," Natsu said seriously, "I'm going to lose one day, and…and you're going to marry a Prince," he swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the feelings of jealousy he felt in his chest at the thought of Lucy, _his _Lucy, marrying a Prince, "that's just how it's supposed to work."

Lucy shook her head wildly, not bothering to still the flow of tears now, "but I don't want to! I don't want to marry some stupid man I've never even met before. It's not fair…it's not fair…it's not fair!" her sobs got louder with each word. Natsu sighed,

"Luce, don't cry…please…I hate seeing you cry," he said sadly, and it was true. He could deal with sitting on the brink of death, he could deal with being punched in the face by Gray or Erza, but seeing Lucy cry was not something he could deal with.

"I just want to be happy, Natsu…is that too much to ask? Aren't I entitled at least that?"

Natsu pulled her towards his chest in a tight hug and squeezed her lovingly, "you deserve the best," he said truthfully.

"I don't want you to leave me," she whispered against his chest. Her admission left them both in a stunned silence. She hadn't meant to admit her feelings to him, it had just sort of slipped out.

"I'm not going anywhere," Natsu finally said with a large grin on his face.

"Really…do you promise?" she knew she sounded childish right now, but she didn't care. If she could get Natsu to promise to stay with her, she didn't care how childish she sounded.

"Lucy Heartphillia, I promise I will never leave you, and I keep my promises!"

It wasn't a declaration of Love, but a promise between two friends to stay with each other. And for Lucy, that was more than enough.

"Thank you," she muttered quietly, before the events of the day caught up on her and she fell into a uneasy sleep.

"I'd do anything for you, Lucy," he whispered quietly after a while. It had become clear to him that she had fallen asleep and he was more than content to lie there with her on his chest. He could still feel the throbbing pain of his injury, but for some reason, with Lucy lying next to him he knew he'd be alright. With a loud sigh, he too closed his eyes and allowed himself to succumb to the darkness.

* * *

The next morning, Lucy awoke feeling stiffer than usual. She groaned as she tried to stretch the kinks out of her body, but was stopped as something clutched onto her midriff and pulled her in tightly.

"Stop moving so much," a deep voice growled out and she felt something warm nuzzling into the gap where neck meets shoulder.

"E-Eh?" she eeped in confusion as she looked downwards slightly to find _Natsu _nuzzling against her body as if she were some oversized teddy bear. And it wasn't just a normal Natsu. It was a shirtless Natsu. She tried to block out the image of his muscled chest and abs as she unsuccessfully attempted to wriggle out of his grasp. With every tiny little movement her body made, he would only grip on tighter to her body, and pull her closer to his own. After a few moments of this pointless exercise, she finally gave up and allowed her body to fall limp against his own. Anyway, despite the mild embarrassment she felt after waking up next to Natsu, she couldn't deny that it wasn't a nice feeling. Natsu seemed to be on the same train of thought as she, for he grinned as he felt her body relax against his.

"Are you okay?" Lucy suddenly asked, her concerned voice cutting through the blissful silence like a knife, "it…it doesn't hurt anymore, right?" she asked, referring to the incident which had led to this situation in the first place. She winced as she allowed her mind to recall the events of the night before. It still made her want to cry at the thought that she could have possibly lost Natsu last night. He had been injured badly and she counted it a blessing that he had even woken up this morning. There was a long pause before Natsu finally grunted out,

"Yeah," he still kept one hand firmly attached to Lucy's waist, but with the other he used it to delicately trace the wide gash he had across his stomach. It was completely closed off now, but he soon found out that if he breathed in too deeply, he felt a searing pain in that area of his stomach.

"Yeah, I'm fine…it just stings a little bit," he admitted with a wince as he felt the pain shoot across his torso once more. She glanced downwards slightly and scowled as she took in the sight of his gash. It went from just above his belly button and up across to his right nipple. Once again, she wished she wasn't a Princess and that she had had the fortune to be born into a family of Mages, that way maybe she could have been of some help to Natsu in his fight. She vowed to never let anything like this happen to him again. She refused to be labelled a damsel in distress. Nervously, she reached out a hand and gently ran it down the cut,

"I'm sorry," she murmured, as she got to the base of the cut, "this is all my fault and-"

Natsu groaned as he pushed himself up onto his elbow, causing Lucy to drop back onto the bed with a soft, "oomph!" He winced as he stared down at his torso, he could feel the cut starting to stretch against his skin, and he realised he needed to bandage it quickly so it wouldn't be torn open.

"Hey, Luce, can you pass me the bandages?" he asked, pointing to the messy pile of bandages that had fallen off the bed by her side. She frowned but obliged and reached off the bed and grabbed the bandages before chucking them to him.

"Thanks!" he said cheerfully as he begun to wrap them around his body.

"Are you even listening to me?" she asked him incredulously, "I'm trying to give you a heart felt apology here and you're just…oh for Pete's sake, you're doing it wrong, give it here!" she huffed in exasperation as she realised that not only was he not listening to her, but he had also managed to mess up bandaging himself. Somehow, and she had no idea how, he had managed to drape the bandages over his head, instead of the intended area of place. She shuffled closer to him and snatched the bandages, before carefully draping them around his stomach,

"I hope this doesn't scar permanently," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, but Natsu heard and simply shrugged,

"I wouldn't mind if it did, what was it Gray said one time to me? Oh yeah, he came back from a mission with this scar on his forehead and he said something like, he didn't mind having the scar because it showed that he had fought and survived, or something like that! Or was it that it showed he was protecting something important to him?" he pulled a face as it became clear to him that he didn't exactly remember what Gray's words to him were. Lucy rolled her eyes as she continued to drape the bandage around his cut,

"Surely it would be better _not _to get into a fight at all," she paused before continuing, "a-about what I was saying earlier…I really am sorry-"

"You asked me if I was listening to you," Natsu cut her off in an oddly serious tone of voice that he rarely used, "I was listening, I just didn't want to hear it."

"Huh?"

"I don't want to hear you apologising to me Lucy, I'm here to protect you and I'm gonna keep on doing that, no matter how hurt and battered up I get. I _want _to protect you, you don't need to apologise for that."

"But look at you, look how badly you got hurt! You expect me not to apologise for doing that to you?"

"You didn't do it to me, the Prince did…"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, "you know what I mean. It's my fault you got hurt. Natsu, you could've died last night."

"Relax, everything is going to be fine. I didn't die. I'm here, right now, talking to you aren't I? Exactly, so what's the point on dwelling on something that didn't even happen? That makes no sense to me."

Lucy what at a loss for words, Natsu had never made so much sense to her before, "that's…um…that's a very wise way of looking at things," she admitted, knowing he was right. He treated her to one of his trademark, blinding grins,

"Yeah, Erza said something like that to me when I was younger! Hehe," he laughed nervously before pumping his fists in the air, "now we've got that sorted, let's get some food. I. Am. _STARVED!" _and with that exclamation, he practically catapulted himself off his bed and began tearing out the door, yelling behind him for Lucy to hurry up.

"Natsu stop! You're going to reopen your wound!" Lucy howled as she chased him down the corridor with a grin on her face.

_Relax, everything is going to be fine_, she replayed his words in her mind and allowed herself a happy little nod, everything was going to be fine! …

Right?

* * *

It took Natsu only a night to recover from his fight from the Prince, but it took said Prince a whole week to recover. Even after the week, he still sported several bad burns along his arms and torso, and his doctor had told him it would be a while before they properly healed. He didn't only have physical wounds however. His male pride was practically shattered, which is why he found himself sitting in a small bar in the South of Magnolia, drunk as one can possibly be, spouting rubbish to those who were foolish -or drunk- enough to listen.

"_TWENTY DAYS!" _he roared angrily, sloshing some beer over his stained shirt, "I travelled twenty _damn _days to that bloody castle! I endured blistering winds and scorching deserts…I climbed up to the highest bloody room of the tallest bloody tower, and do you know what I found?"

His listeners shook their heads.

"Some species-confused KID, telling me that I can't have the Princess! PAH!" he took a swig of his beer, spilling some more down his front, "so of course, I tell the kid to scram, and I even wave my sword around, thinking it'll scare the brat, and do you know what he did?"

Once again, his listeners shook their heads.

"HE LAUGHED! The stupid brat laughed at me! And then…" he paused for a moment and rolled his eyes back as if he were trying to remember a piece of vital information, "and then there was fire. Lots and lots of fire. The kid was not a kid at all! He was a bloody dragon and-!"

"Oookay, I think you've had a bit too much to drink," the kindly barmaid said, as she slipped into his booth and began to clear away the many empty glasses that lay scattered around him, "come on love, I think what you need is a nice little rest. Come on, up you get!" she wrapped his arms around her shoulders and began to hoist him away from the table and up the stairs to the rooms above the bar.

"It's not _faaair_," he whined drunkenly as he followed the barmaid up the stairs, "I worked so hard for it, and she was so pretty! She would've made a great wife and-"

"Stop!" a commanding voice rang out across the bar, earning an immediate hush. The barmaid and the drunken Prince turned to their left and found a tall dark haired woman emerging from one of the many booths in the bar.

"You," she pointed a glove finger at the Prince, "what did you just say?"

The barmaid rolled her eyes, "oh come on now Miss, he's drunk. Let him get some rest now and-"

"Hush," the woman barked, stalking over to where they stood, "answer my question. What did you just say?"

The Prince rolled his eyes backwards once more and tried to remember what he had just been speaking about, "erm, let's see…dragon? No…fire? No…aha! The Princess," he whistled, "she was a cute one and so-"

The woman sighed loudly and prodded him in the shoulder, "what do you mean? I thought the dragon defeated you before you got a chance to rescue her?"

"He ain't no dragon, he's a KID!" he roared once more.

The woman scowled at him and once again prodded his shoulder, "I am in no mood for the trivialities of a drunk man. Answer my question so I may leave".

The Prince frowned at her, but sensed the anger he felt rolling off her and continued, "well yes, I didn't rescue her…but she was awake anyway. Don't ask me how, but she was. _She was_!" he added angrily as he noticed the doubtful glances he was getting from people.

"Impossible! She cannot be awake, only a kiss can wake her up," the woman muttered as she quickly began to stride towards the exit.

She smiled grimly as she left the bar. Who would've thought that a trip to a local tavern for some refreshments would provide her with such valuable information. Ultear grinned as she thought of how happy her Master would be with her now.

* * *

**A/N: **This chapter is proof that reviews make me write faster! The last chapter got so many, so quickly that I couldn't help but start writing straight away, you guys are great!

Ahaha, you may or may not notice that I slipped a Shrek reference in this chapter because a lot of people were saying that this story reminded them of Shrek and I couldn't help myself hehe .

Soo, the main plot is starting to get underway now! Please keep reviewing ^_^


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 14**

Ultear Milkovich wore an uncharacteristic grin as she strode confidently through the dark corridors of the large, gloomy, and unloving castle she had called her home for the past five years. Her grin only widened further as she began to sense her Master's presence behind a door at the very end of the corridor. This was it. As she approached the door it was suddenly wrenched open and a large rounded man ran out of it, slamming it shut firmly behind himself. She watched in amusement as the large man slid down the wall and nervously began wiping sweat off his brow.

"Kain!" she barked as she approached him, causing him to jump up from his place and on the floor and stand to attention. Although she was not the strongest of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, it was well known fact that Ultear was their leader, and it did not do well to anger her. Kain Hikaru, a member of the Seven Kin, gulped as he felt her presence loom over him. He had just had to deal with the frightful task of being punished by his Master for his inefficiency, and he did not want to have to do the same with Ultear.

"Y-yes, Ultear?" he stuttered nervously, that was habit he'd never managed to kick. She smirked evilly at him, well aware of the effect she had on him, normally she would tease and mock him for his stutter as she generally saw it as a sign of weakness - and weakness was not something the Seven Kin wanted - but right now she had more important matters to deal with. She would just have to torment Kain later. She jerked a thumb over to the door he had just exited from,

"The Master is in there, yes?"

Kain gulped and paled slightly at the mention of Master, "h-he is. B-b-but," he glanced around as if to check no-one was in the vicinity before continuing, "h-he is not, ah, n-not in the b-best of moods. I think it w-would be wise to k-keep away from him r-ri-right now!" he warned her, remembering the way his Master had kicked him across the room as if he were nothing but a beach ball. Ultear nodded and stepped away from Kain,

"Thank you," and with that she continued on her way.

"W-w-wait!" Kain yelled, outstretching a hand and grabbing onto the tails of her coat to stop her from moving, "did-did you not hear what I just said? _Master is in a bad mood_," he empathised his final phrase, trying to get it into Ultear's head that if she dared go into his study right now, it was highly likely that she may not survive. Ultear merely smiled and tugged her coat free of his chubby grasp,

"You do not need to worry about me, Kain. I have _information _that I'm sure will please him."

"Y-you don't mean…" Kain gasped as Ultear nodded her head once more before disappearing into their Master's study

A gleeful grin spread over Kain's face as he watched Ultear enter the study. For years the Seven Kin of Purgatory had not led a very good life. Although they lived in a luxurious home, and were seven of the strongest people to roam the Earth, (they believed), living with the angry and temperamental Hades was not ideal. He would frequently lose his temper and use his subordinates as punching bags when things did not go right for him. They all knew the reason for this, Hades was simply furious that the Princess was still not in his clutches after all this time. But…it seemed as if things were finally looking up. With a happy chortle of laughter, Kain began bounding down the corridor to find his allies. This was something they had been looking forward to.

Ultear flinched as she entered her Master's study. Clearly, this news couldn't have come to her at a better time, for it was clear that her Master was near his breaking point. The room was extremely dark, due to the fact that every single window had been covered up with thick curtains to stop the sunlight from entering. Empty wine bottles littered his desk and his floor was a messy sea of torn paper and books. He looked a mess. His usually combed hair was unkempt and it looks like his beard hadn't been trimmed in years. His eyes had large bags underneath them and they were extremely bloodshot, as if he had not had a good nights sleep in a while.

"What?" Hades bellowed as Ultear entered his study, "I thought I made it clear to you all that I didn't want to sense even a _whiff _of any of you, unless you had the Princess in tow?"

Ultear bowed politely, "yes Master, I understand that but-"

"So…_why…" _Hades growled angrily and arose slowly from his seat, causing Ultear to take an uneasy step backwards. Despite the fact that he was close to his breaking point, he was still a powerful man with a powerful presence and Ultear knew that if she got him angered enough, there would be nothing that would save her.

"So why," Hades repeated as he walked round his table, "why have you dared show your face? Hm, Ultear?"

"On my travels, I came across some interesting information regarding the Princess!"

Hades frowned at her, "what do you mean? Did you come across some ancient magic that will allow us to overcome Makarov's spells?"

"N-no, that's not it, Master…" she jumped as Hades slammed growled angrily and fist into the wall, cracking some of it,

"And so, I ask you again…what are you doing here?"

"I have reason to believe that the Princess has been awoken!" Ultear quickly yelped, her Master was advancing ever closer to her and she could feel his murderous intent. Her words made Hades stop in his tracks and regard her thoughtfully,

"So she has been rescued, hm? Very well, Ultear send Rustyrose to get her please and-"

Ultear shook her head, "I'm afraid you misunderstand me, Master. _Please_," she added quickly as she realised that Hades was glaring at her for the interruption, "please allow me to continue."

Hades increased his glare, but he said nothing which gave Ultear confidence.

"A Prince apparently attempted to rescue to Princess, but was stopped by the dragon. This Prince took refuge in a bar, where I heard him spouting his attempt to rescue her. He let slip that he was able to catch a glimpse of the Princess, which led me to ask how. He then revealed that the Princess was very much awake."

"Impossible!" Hades snarled, "she is to sleep until she is awoken by a kiss. Makarov made sure of that."

Ultear nodded slowly, "I know, I know, but I feel compelled to believe this Prince for some reason. I don't know how it has happened, but the Princess is awake."

_The Princess is awake_, Hades repeated the words in his mind. A feeling of glee spread through his body. After all this time, after all this time of waiting, she would finally be his!

"But what of Makarov's protective spells?" Hades asked, "whether she is awake or not is irrelevant if we cannot get into the castle. Damn you Makarov," he cursed.

Ultear grinned weakly, "forgive me if I am wrong, but I was always led to believe that when the Princess was awoken, then the enchantments would be lifted?"

Hades allowed himself a triumphant bark of laughter, "I believe you are right Ultear my dear, I believe you are right…"

* * *

"Luce?"

"Mhm?"

"You're perving on me again…"

Lucy blushed extremely red as she realised that she _had _been caught 'perving' on her friend.

"Don't be silly!" she scolded him, trying to regain some of her dignity, "I have to look at you to do this properly!"

It had been a week since the attack from the Prince that had injured Natsu like he had never been injured before. Natsu had insisted that he was fine and that she had nothing to worry about, but everyday she still demanded that she undress and redress his bandages. She knew that if she hadn't been there, he wouldn't have done anything and that would surely have led to an infection. That is why she found herself, sitting on Natsu's bed in between his parted legs, and with a shirtless Natsu in front of her. It didn't help that she was only in her pyjamas either. To be honest, she was quite proud of her self restraint, it was a testament to it that she had completely lost control and pounced on him by now.

"I'm just saying," Natsu teased, noting the way she had begun to blush, "you've been staring at my nip-"

"Natsu, shut _up_!" she wailed as she attempted to focus on redressing the bandage that crossed his torso.

Natsu roared with laughter at her obvious discomfort before hissing in mild pain as Lucy prodded his scar in punishment, "oi, you're supposed to be healing me, not hurting me!"

"Hmph!" Lucy huffed smugly as she put the final touches on his bandage, "and you're supposed to be sitting here like a good little patient, not making lewd remarks about me!"

"You're the one who was staring at my ni-mpph!"

Lucy clamped her hand over his mouth and shot him a glare that clearly said, "_finish that sentence and I will hurt you."_

However, Natsu was not one to sit by a let someone walk over him. As she glared at him angrily, he narrowed his eyes in mock defeat before quickly darting his tongue out and licking the hand which covered her face. As expected, Lucy shrieked in disgust and recoiled her hand, giving Natsu the chance to shove her backwards and climb on top of her.

"N-N-Natsu…" she trailed off as she stared into his black eyes that were dancing with something she couldn't quite place, "w-what," she cleared her throat nervously, "what are you doing!"

"Punishing you!" he exclaimed gleefully.

Lucy cocked an eyebrow, not sure if Natsu understood the position he had put them it. He was still topless and she was still in her pyjamas. With him leaning over her body like that, it made it seem as if they were about to do, _something else_.

Lucy felt her cheeks flush as the thought entered her mind.

_Bad Lucy, bad Lucy! _she scolded herself, trying to erase the image of Natsu kissing her senseless out of her mind.

"Luce?"

"Ahaa!" she squeaked as Natsu slapped her cheeks lightly, "what was that for?"

"You were spacing out," he told her before his cheeky grin spread across his face once more, "now, for your punishment…"

"Stop calling it that!" Lucy squeaked, his words and actions were really not helping the images that were flitting through her mind right now, "please…please get off me, Natsu."

"Only if you admit it,"

"Admit what?"

"That you were checking me out!"

"No."

"Then I'm not getting off!" he chirped cheerfully, adjusting his forearms so he could get into a comfortable position hovering over her body.

"Please?"

"Admit it…"

"No!"

"Then, I'm staying here. I've got lots of stamina, I can do this all day!"

"Oh God," Lucy groaned. Either he knew _exactly _what he was saying and was being like this on purpose, or he was just extremely oblivious. Lucy didn't know what to hope for.

"Natsu, please!"

He shook his head and grinned, "just say the words and it'll be over, Luce."

She huffed and lowered her eyes before muttering, "fine…I was-"

But before she could get out the phrase, they suddenly heard and awkward cough and their attention was directed to the doorway. Happy was hovering above it with a look of confusion in his face. Behind him stood Gray, and a golden haired man Lucy had met briefly at the party named Loki.

"Oh, hey guys!" Natsu called over to them brightly, still not moving from his position on top of Lucy.

"Natsu….?" Happy began uncertainly.

"Not interrupting anything are we?" Loki sniggered as he took a few steps into the room and leant against the wall.

Natsu shook his head and said, still in the bright tone of voice he had used early, "nope, I'm just teaching Lucy a lesson!"

Lucy wanted nothing more than to crawl in a hole and die. A deep, deep, _deep, _hole.

"Kinky," Loki commented, causing Lucy to yell,

"Get _off _me you moron!"

"You'd better get off Natsu, I don't think she's in the mood anymore," Loki laughed.

Lucy decided then and there that she didn't like Loki, and she would get her revenge on him later. Catching the furious tone of voice she was using, Natsu scrambled off of her and jumped off the bed to meet his friends. Leaving Lucy to scowl at his figure.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Natsu asked as he approached his friends, he patted Happy on the head gently, and gave both Gray and Loki a fist bump.

"We got a mission a couple towns away and Loki hasn't seen you in a while," Gray shrugged in that same nonchalant tone he always used when he tried to cover the fact that he simply just wanted to visit his best friend every once in a while.

"Cool, you guys wanna eat something before you go?"

"Sure,"

Natsu nodded towards them and turned towards Lucy, "you coming Luce?"

She shook her head, "no…I'll…I need to get dressed, I'll come down later!"

Natsu grinned at her before grabbing hold of Happy and tugging him down from the ceiling, "come on Happy, I got some real nice fish for you down the stream, want some?"

"Aye sir!" Happy chirped as he followed his adopted brother out of the doorway. Gray and Loki gave her one last nod before following the two.

Once she was left alone in the bedroom, Lucy collapsed onto his bed and groaned into his pillow. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. With a final sigh she jumped off his bed and made her way to her own room, deciding that she needed to have a long talk with Natsu about personal boundaries. Clearly that wasn't something his dragon father thought necessary for him to learn.

* * *

"…so how's Lucy? You and her looked like you were having fun, huh?"

Lucy stopped walking down the corridor as she heard her name being mentioned in the kitchen.

"She's fine," that sounded like Natsu.

"Fine, huh? She looked better than fine to me," a voice that sounded suspiciously like Loki laughed. Lucy felt herself blush as Loki spoke. It was no secret to even her that Loki, although very nice, was a known womanizer, and she didn't know how she felt being ogled at by him. It was nice getting male attention and all, but she wasn't sure she wanted _that _kind of attention from Loki - that would only end in trouble, she was sure. She stifled a giggle with her hands as she heard a loud bang, that sounded a lot like someone being punched to the floor, and then she heard someone groaning in pain. And the groan sounded a lot like it belonged to Loki.

"_You," _Natsu growled, "are not allowed to look at Lucy, she's not gonna be another one of your 'conquests'. Got it?"

Lucy grinned to herself as she leant against the wall next to the kitchen door, it made her extremely happy that Natsu cared about her enough to defend her honour even when she was not in the vicinity. She had been about to move from her makeshift hiding place, and make her way back to her room when she heard Loki speaking up again.

"You're pretty possessive," he commented slyly.

"Very," that was Gray.

"Wah? Me? S-shut up!" Natsu stammered, and although Lucy could not see him, she was positive that he was blushing. She could simply tell by the tone of his voice. Subconsciously, she inched closer to the door and pressed her ear against it.

"Stop getting so flustered, it's creepy," Loki mumbled, clearly extremely amused with Natsu's reaction. He was Fairy Tail's resident playboy and it was safe to say, that he knew a _lot _about relationships, having spent so much of his time avoiding getting in one. He preferred to drift between woman to woman, rather than settling down with one. That was just plain old boring in his opinion. That's why he had to learn The Signs. He had to learn when his latest girlfriend was getting itchy to settle down and start a solid relationship with him. After almost a decade of learning these "Signs" he was a master at it, and could sniff out a blooming relationship from a hundred miles away. That is why he was taking so much pleasure in teasing a certain pink haired Dragon Slayer right now. Loki's "relationship sense" were tingling.

"Well you guys are the ones acting dumb," Natsu grumbled, "accusing me of being possessive or whatever, humph!"

"You punched Loki in the face for saying Lucy looked nice, that's pretty possessive if you ask me," Gray countered, and although Lucy couldn't see him, she could practically hear the smirk he wore on his face as he joined in on the teasing of Natsu.

Before Natsu could deny that statement, which he had been about to do, Loki cut across and simply said,

"You like her, don't you?"

There was a very pregnant silence in the kitchen, and Lucy found herself holding her breath outside as she waited to hear his response.

"W-wh-what?" Natsu croaked out, and outside in the corridor Lucy huffed in annoyance,

_It was a simple question, dragon boy!_

"It's a simple question," Loki said slowly as if he were talking to someone hard of hearing, "do you like Lucy?"

"He does, he _liiiiikeeees _her!" Happy put in, with fish still in his mouth.

Once again, Lucy could practically hear the blush in his voice, "of course I like her, she's my friend!"

She felt her heart plummet slightly at his words, of course he would only like her in that sort of way. She was naïve to even think she had even a slightly romantic chance with him. Loki growled in exasperation at Natsu's answer,

"You are such a little kid, I swear," he muttered under his breath. He then conceded that Natsu's immaturity with these sorts of things wasn't entirely his fault. Unlike his friends, he had grown up away from the constant companionship of young women, and had thus entered the "game" pretty late, it was no wonder he was acting like a silly nursery child.

"He means, do you _like _her," Gray said helpfully, trying to empathise the key word in that sentence. Apparently Natsu still did not understand, for Lucy heard him say,

"Huh?"

She then heard something that sounded distinctly like two heads slamming down on the kitchen table in frustration and she assumed that Loki and Gray had done so. To be honest, she didn't blame them. Right now, she was seriously considering whacking her own head on the wall in front of her. Why, oh _why_, did she have to fall for such a dense boy? She wondered if all those fights with various Princes had knocked a few hundred brain cells out, for surely no-one could be this dense. Right?

"Okay, we'll do this another way," Loki suddenly said, "Natsu…think about Gajeel and Levy, okay? You know they're dating, right?"

Lucy didn't hear anything, but she assumed Natsu must have nodded his head in confirmation because Loki continued on,

"And _why_, would they decide to date each other? What feeling must they be feeling to want to do that?"

There was a pause for a few moments as Natsu pondered his answer, before he said, "Romance?"

"_Finally," _Gray sighed, really it was quite tiresome having such a slow friend sometimes.

"Oh…oh wait, come _on_!" Natsu suddenly laughed, "you guys don't think I like Lucy like that…do you?"

Lucy's breath hitched in her throat and she felt a sudden sense of foreboding. Something was telling her to get out of there, that she was about to hear something she didn't want to hear.

"Isn't it obvious?" Loki asked, followed by a few grunts that told her Gray had nodded in agreement. Natsu began laughing nervously,

"Haha, you guys are funny," he wheezed, "me and Lucy are just friends."

"Just…friends…" Lucy whispered sadly from outside the door. Her heart was beginning to ache, and she began to move away slowly from the door, she was now sure she didn't want to hear anymore of what was being said. But curiosity got the better of her as she heard Loki's incredulous voice stopped her from moving, and she found herself leaning against the door with her ear pressed up against it once more.

"You and Lucy are just friends? Yeah right!" he scoffed.

"We are!"

"Yeah, and Gray and Juvia are _just friends _as well."

"Hey we-"

"Shut up Gray," Loki interrupted him, "I'm trying to understand what is going through Natsu's mind right now."

"Look," Lucy heard a dull thud that sounded as if Natsu had slammed his hands on the table, "me and Lucy are just friends, okay? This is just a mission and she's just a source of money, once I finish this mission I'll probably never even see her again anyway…"

If her heart had been aching before, it was safe to say that her heart felt as if it had been tugged from her chest and stomped on by a herd of elephants now. Lucy wrenched herself away from the door and began running down the corridor at full blast. Tears were brimming in her eyelids, but she willed herself not to cry.

"I will not cry! I will not cry!" she yelled at herself as she ran down the corridor and up a flight of stairs, "I will not cry for someone who doesn't give a _damn _about me!" Cursing Natsu to the high heavens, she pulled open her bedroom door, and slammed it shut with more force than she even knew she possessed.

It was a shame that the young Princess did not stay to hear the rest of the conversation. As Lucy ran down the corridor, trying to stop tears from falling down her face, Gray and Loki both sat in the kitchen staring at Natsu with raised eyebrows. Natsu wore a sheepish grin as he stared back at his two friends.

"What?" he asked, tired of the odd stares they were giving him.

"You've gotta stop lying to yourself, man," Gray told him.

Instead of defending himself, Natsu began laughing and he nodded his head in agreement,

"Yeah, I know," he admitted with a heavy sigh as his thoughts drifted off to the Princess they were currently discussing, "I know…"

* * *

She wanted to run away. She wanted to simply jump out of the window and run. Run as far as possible. Run away from everyone and everything. If there was one thing Lucy Heartphillia had learnt in her life, it was that she couldn't trust _anyone_. Clearly, she couldn't trust her parents to care for her as a child. And now, she had learnt that she couldn't trust the one person she thought she could. She couldn't trust Natsu. She let out a small shriek of annoyance and chucked a pillow across the room as she remembered his words from earlier,

"_This is just a mission and she's just a source of money, once I finish this mission I'll probably never even see her again anyway…"_

"Lying bastard jerk!" she screeched as she pounded her blankets with her fists, "what happened to '_Lucy Heartphillia, I promise I will never leave you. And I keep my promises'? _What happened to that?" she yelled to herself.

She felt betrayed, unloved, unwanted and used. He had manipulated her into thinking she was someone he could possibly want, and she had fell for it. She had fallen for him! She was disgusted with herself. She narrowed her eyes as she tugged her blankets over her head, blocking out the outside world. As she lay there, trying to calm her rising temper, and trying to stop the onslaught of emotion that was threatening to overcome her like a tidal wave, she made a silent prayer,

"_Someone…someone come and rescue me please. I don't know how long I can take it,"_

She wanted to get out of there. Fast.

* * *

Hades grinned as his carriage pulled him along a rocky dirt road.

"You look happy, Master," Ultear commented as she noted the way her Master was grinning as he stared out of the window.

Hades turned to face his two companions, he had decided that only two of his Seven would be needed for this task, and had thus bought Ultear and Meredy along with him. He flashed them a bright smile,

"I am extremely happy my dear, for this is the day I've been waiting years for. And nothing, _nothing_, is going to stand in my way…"

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the late(ish) update, I went back to school this week so I had to get back into my "school mode"! But we get a four day weekend, (yaaay Royal Wedding) so I'll probably write the next chapter in a few days

Keep on reviewing guys ^_^


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 15**

It took her about twenty minutes to formulate a plan. Once the idea popped into her mind, she couldn't think of how she hadn't thought of it earlier. It was simply brilliant. Her cheeks were still stained with tears, but she wore a determined grin as she hopped out of bed and made her way to one of the large chests she had in her room. She unlocked the chest and quickly emptied it of it's contents before striding over to her wardrobe and tugging every single item of clothing she had out of it. Her plan was a simple one. She would pack all her belongings into her chest, and march to the outskirts of the castle grounds. She would then sit and wait for a Prince to come for her. That way, Natsu wouldn't have a chance to beat the Prince and she would be able to leave the castle. It was perfect, it was flawless. There was no way it could fail. She let out a nervous cackle of laughter as she continued to stuff her shoes into the almost full chest.

"And _what _are you doing?"

With a small gasp she pulled her head out of the large chest and looked up to find the one person she had decided she never wanted to see again leaning up against the doorframe with a confused look on his face. She stared at him for a few moments before turning her attentions back to her packing. She had so many things she wanted to say to him, but she had the horrible feeling that if she opened her mouth the only thing that would come out would be a flood of tears, and she already promised herself that she would never cry in front of him again.

"Luce?"

She heard the floorboards creak slightly and she knew he had taken a step into her room. She bit her lower lip and continued on folding a t-shirt.

"Luce, what's wrong?"

He took another step towards her, and she could feel her resolve wavering.

"Luce-"

"_Stop…_" she hissed, slamming her fists on the floor beneath her, "stop calling me that."

Natsu froze and frowned at her. He knew he wasn't a genius, but he wasn't stupid either. Something was wrong with her.

"Luce…"

"I said don't call me that!" she cried shrilly as she stood up slowly and turned to face him, "you…you don't deserve to call me that!"

Natsu recoiled back slightly as he caught a glimpse of her face. Her usual bright brown eyes were puffy, swollen and red due to an excess of tears. Her tears were stained in tears and her hair was a knotted mess from, he assumed, tugging at it in frustration in anger. His eyes roamed over her body and noticed that not only was she shaking slightly, her fists were rapidly clenching and unclenching, as if she was having difficulty not punching something. He put his hands up in front of his chest defensively before speaking,

"Okay…Lucy then. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered curtly before striding across her room and plucking some trousers that hung over her bed frame, "nothing is wrong with me, at all."

Natsu bit back a loud groan, why was she being so difficult?

"Look Luce-"

Lucy turned towards him and growled angrily at him, causing him to gulp and change his sentence quickly.

"Uh, I mean…Lucy. Lucy, there's something obviously wrong with you, I'm not an idiot."

"Ha!" Lucy scoffed as she walked back to her chest and slammed it closed before locking it tightly, "that's hard to believe!"

Natsu narrowed his eyes as he watched her bend over and grab the handles to drag the chest. Lucy teased him on a regular basis, it was just something they did to each other, it was part of their relationship. But right now he could sense actual malice in her voice, as if she were deliberately trying to hurt him. He shook his head in disbelief, sure he was imagining it. She made small panting noises as she began to drag the chest across the room.

"Where are you going with that?" he asked.

She didn't answer him, instead she continued dragging the chest until she made it to the doorway he was currently obstructing with his body,

"Excuse me," she said with feigned politeness, "you are in my way."

They were standing face to face now. Natsu could practically feel her anger rolling off of her skin, and to be honest, it scared him a little bit. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders and shook her lightly,

"Lucy, please…what's wrong with you?"

"Don't touch me," she whispered in a cold manner before shaking his hands off her and taking a step backwards, narrowly missing tripping over her chest, "you…you don't have the right to touch me!"

Nope, he definitely wasn't imagining the malice and anger in her voice.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he spat back at her harshly.

Her arms were crossed firmly over her body as and she regarded him with a cold glare before answering, "I think we both know the answer to that. Now, I am not going to ask you again, please move out of my way."

"No," Natsu growled back at her firmly, "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong."

There was a silence for a few long moments before Lucy smirked at him.

"You want to know what's wrong?"

"Well…yeah…"

"I'm sick of pretending. I'm tired of pretending to be friends with you. Sick and tired!"

"L-Luce?" Natsu whispered uncertainly as she began to speak harsh words, he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear this. He lifted his hands in the air, trying to motion that he wanted her to stop talking, but it was as if she was on a roll now and could not be stopped.

"I said don't call me _Luce _as if we're friends. Friends…ha! Stop kidding yourself Natsu, I'm a Princess for God's sake. And what are you?" she paused and sneered at him, "you're just a lowly dragon. We are not friends. Nor will we ever be. So stop acting like you care about me, we both know you don't," she took a deep breath before continuing on, "I'm nothing but a source of money for you, we both know it. And you…well you're nothing but a source of entertainment for me. Got it?"

Natsu stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, before his eyes narrowed and took upon them a fierce gaze she had never seen before,

"Fine," he hissed angrily before turning around and exiting her room, slamming the door shut behind him.

She winced at the force he used to slam the door, he was angry. Extremely angry.

"Oh…oh dear," she groaned to herself as she slid down and sat herself down on top of the chest, "what have I done?"

She felt incredibly ashamed of herself. Sure, she was beyond furious with Natsu for leading her on all this time when she clearly meant nothing to him, but she hadn't meant to say those spiteful words that had escaped from her mouth.

"I'm just as bad as him now," she sighed, but quickly decided it was for the best, it would be easier to leave if she felt no attachment to him. She winced again as she heard a roar of anger coming from the room opposite her, and then the sound of smashing glass. She never imagined that he would be this bothered by her harsh words? Were they not the same things he was thinking anyway? She scowled as she glared at the door he had just slammed. She vowed to herself that she would not fall for his trickery again, he had already proved that he knew how to act. She would now guard her heart and not allow for him to worm his way back into it. Besides, she glanced down at the chest she was currently sitting on, she wasn't planning on being here for much longer anyway.

* * *

Happy floated uncertainly backwards and forwards in the room he shared with his pink haired companion. He had never seen Natsu in such a messed up state before. Happy had been innocently minding his own business when Natsu had stormed into their room, his fists blazing with fire. Happy's eyes widened in fear as he watched Natsu roar angrily before punching the large mirror he had in his room. The glass shattered around his bare fist and dropped onto the floor, before Natsu casually strode over the glass and threw himself on his bed.

"Natsu…?"

"Go away."

Happy's brow furrowed in confusion, "Natsu…are you ill?"

Natsu said nothing, instead he groaned louder and tugged his blankets over his head. He knew Happy meant well and was probably trying to comfort him, but he really didn't need it right now. Happy was still flying around and poking him, trying to get him to reveal to him exactly what was wrong, but Natsu kept quiet.

"I'll…I'll go see if Lucy knows how to make you feel better, 'kay Natsu?"

"Yeah you go find her, see if you can talk some sense into her!" Natsu groaned, but Happy had already left the room.

Natsu hadn't felt this sad or alone since Igneel had left him. What had gotten into Lucy? He briefly wondered if she was suffering from "The Monthlies" but he quickly brushed that idea away, Lucy was being far too mean to just blame it all on those damned monsters. Something was wrong with her, something bad. And apparently, he was the source of her problem. He groaned as he tried to figure out exactly what he had done to annoy her so badly, but he could come up with nothing. Apart from their usual teasing, he had been on his best behaviour with her. He even thought that things were going pretty well with them, apparently he had been wrong. Suddenly, his bedroom door was pushed open,

"Natsu! Natsu!" Happy cried, "it's Lucy!"

In a flash, he was out of bed, "what? Is she alright? Is she ill?" although she had said things that hurt him, he still cared for her deeply. That was just the sort of person he was.

Happy shook his large blue head, "no, but she's…um…she's leaving!"

"Leaving?"

"Aye! She says she going to stand outside and wait for a Prince to take her!"

A string of profanities rolled off his lips as he dashed out of his room and began to chase after Lucy. What the hell was wrong with her?

* * *

Their carriage rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill on which the castle stood. Hades eyes gleamed happily in the moonlight.

"My Princess is waiting for me. Come Ultear, Meredy!"

"Yes Master!" they both chirped dutifully, for they were both as happy as their Master. They had been waiting for this day for many years now.

"The Princess will finally be mine!"

* * *

"I'm leaving Natsu, and there is nothing you can do about it," Lucy hissed angrily as she tried to tug her chest out of his grasp.

"No. No, you're not. It's not safe for you out there, and I don't get paid if you leave. Remember." Natsu replied angrily as he tugged the chest closer to himself.

"Oh yes, go ahead a reiterate the fact that I mean absolutely nothing to you! That's perfectly fine!"

That was the final straw for Natsu, she'd been slowly breaking him and breaking him with each harsh word she pat at him, but that final sentence caused him to explode. He dropped the chest onto the floor with a large crash, and Lucy was sure some of the marble cracked.

"H-Hey Natsu…calm down…" a worried Happy said as he watched his two friends sizing each other up. They both ignored him and continued on with their argument however.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he roared, causing Lucy to flinch and take a step backwards, "since when did you become such a bitch?"

"Don't call me a bi-"

"I come to you, trying to find out what's wrong - like a _good _friend, and you just start treating me like crap! Like I'm nobody," his eyes hardened as he glared at her, daring her to speak.

"I'm not deaf! I heard you, I heard everything you said about me!" she screeched. Natsu furrowed his brow,

"What?"

Lucy opened her mouth to explain what she meant, but a low cough near the entrance alerted their attention.

"You may not be deaf my dear Princess, but I'm afraid you might just possibly be blind," a tall man hidden in the shadows laughed heartily. Standing next to him were two women, one was small and looked like a child, the other was tall and wore a cocky grin on her pretty face.

"God damn it," Natsu grumbled, clenching his fists together, the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was a Prince, "get back Lucy."

She narrowed her eyes, "no. I told you, I'm leaving!"

"Now isn't the time for your crap," Natsu hissed at her, pushing past her and making his way towards the three people, "now get back!"

The tall man took a step out of the shadows, giving Natsu, Lucy and Happy a better look at the man. He was extremely powerful looking, with rippling muscles hidden under his black coat, a sword fashioned to either side of his hips, and long dark brown beard that was speckled with spots of gray, showing his age, and a mysterious eye patch that spoke of battle.

"My, my," his voice was deep and commanding, "Ultear my dear, does this young man match the description you heard from the man in the bar?"

The oldest of the two women, Ultear, took a few steps forward. She was very pretty, Lucy saw, with long black hair that was styled fashionably. But she wore a cunning look on her face that made Lucy nervous. Ultear glared at Natsu for a few moments before nodding,

"Yes Master, I believe this is he."

The man took a long piercing stare at Natsu, "he uses Dragon Slayer Magic, I believe. An ancient type of magic, very powerful. And very interesting, it's a shame…he would have been put to good use working for me," he waved a hand towards the youngest woman he had brought with him, "Meredy, I believe you will be enough for him."

"Yes Master!" the young girl stepped out of the shadows, revealing a cute little girl with shoulder length pink hair. Except, Lucy would have found her cute if it were not for the blood thirsty grin she gave Natsu as she stepped forward.

"Oi, what the hell is this?" Natsu yelled at the man, "aren't you supposed to be the one fighting me?"

The man said nothing, he merely pushed the young girl, Meredy, closer to Natsu.

"Your death shall be quick," Meredy stated and she raised her arms high into the air, causing Natsu to grin. He normally avoided beating on little girls, but he decided that if she attempted to attack, then he would have no choice but to defend himself.

"Bring it," he growled at her. Due to his argument with Lucy, he had a lot of pent up anger, and a good fight would be a good way to end that tension. Meredy raised her arms into the air before whispered firmly,

"_Maguilty Sodom_!" with a flash of bright light, suddenly seven pointed swords arose in the air above Meredy. Lucy gulped as the tips of the blades glinted in the light, they looked like they could do a lot of damage. She was angry at Natsu. Yes. She never wanted to see him again. Yes. But…watching him die was not something on her list of things to do right now. Natsu's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as he stared at the swords in wonder, he hadn't been expecting her to perform a feat of magic of that scale, but he quickly covered it up with his usual cocky grin.

"Swords? Is that it? Lame…I'll melt them away," he took a step backwards before shouting, "_Roar of the Fire Dragon!" _and, as usual, a large fireblast erupted from his mouth.

"Foolish," Meredy mumbled as she stared at the ball of fire that was rushing towards her, "_Maguilty Ray!" _all at once, her swords sped towards the fire, cutting it neatly into seven pieces that dissolved on impact with the swords. Lucy's eyes widened in shock and fear as she watched the swords continue to cut through the air.

"Natsu!" she managed to shriek out in warning as the swords impaled the dragon boy. Fortunately Natsu saw the danger and braced himself for the attack, but the swords still cut into his forearms and legs, sending him flying backwards across the room.

"What…" he wheezed as he wrenched the swords from his arms and legs, "what…the hell was that?" he had used his highest level of fire and had sent that at the girl. Her swords should have been reduced to nothing but smouldering ash!

"Meredy's Swords can cut through anything," the man informed them from his position across the room, "she is one of my most valuable warriors. You are no match for her," he turned to Meredy, "Meredy, finish him. I wish to leave this place and take my prize!"

Lucy flinched at the mention of the word "prize", he was talking as if she were some sort of object.

"As you wish Master! _Maguilty Sodom!" _she once again raised her hands in the air and seven pointed blades appeared from nowhere. Natsu stood to his feet and once again got into a fighting stance.

Lucy's heart began beating wilding in her chest. She could sense Meredy's power. She was strong, her power was floating around her small body as if it were some sort of aura. She was really going to kill him.

Before she had any control over what she was doing, she ran out into the middle of the room with her arms raised high in the air,

"Stop!" she yelled, "stop this fighting now!"

"Master, your Princess is in the way."

"Get out the way Lucy," Natsu growled through gritted teeth, "I need to finish this."

Lucy shook her head and turned towards the man, "I'll go with you. I'll go with you willingly, there's no need for you to kill him."

"But killing the dragon is a requirement, is it not?" he asked. Lucy shook her head,

"N-no, as long as you have me, surely you don't need to kill him?"

"Master, shall I kill him?" Meredy asked, her swords still poised in the air, ready to strike Natsu down. The man pondered for a few excruciatingly long moments before shaking his head,

"No Meredy, the Princess has asked for us to spare him," he paused and raised an eyebrow at Lucy, "why is that Princess? Surely you haven't developed feelings for the dragon?" he laughed as if the idea was absurd. Lucy laughed shrilly along with him, ignoring the look of hurt Natsu was giving her.

"Of course not! However, he has been keeping me clothed and fed for the past few months I have been awake, I feel I at least owe him his life for this."

The man nodded in agreement and extended a hand towards Lucy, "very well then. Come my Princess, your chariot awaits."

Lucy bent down to grab the chest she had been planning to bring with her, but the man stopped her with a laugh.

"You don't need to bring anything _he _gave you. I will stock you with enough clothing once we arrive at my castle, now come! Ultear, Meredy, you too!" with a whoosh of his cloak he left through the door he had arrived in, with his two hench-women following him dutifully.

"Luce…"

"I said don't call me that!"

"Why…why are you doing this?" Natsu asked, not bothering to hide the sadness in his voice.

"Because…because now you'll still get your damn money. That's what you wanted, right?" she cried, and before he had the chance to say anything to her, she turned around and followed her soon to be husband out of the castle.

Although Happy was still by his side, hiding nervously behind a bookshelf, Natsu felt incredibly alone. The castle seemed far too big for him now. Scowling angrily at the door Lucy had just fled from, Natsu growled,

"Happy, pack your stuff. We're going back home," before spinning round and running back up to his room.

* * *

Lucy stared coldly at the castle she had called her home for the majority of her life as the large carriage drove further and further away from it. Once it was far enough away that she could not even see any of the large torrents that stood at the very top of the castle, she drew her eyes away from the window and turned to face the man in front of her. _Her Prince_. She gulped at the thought, this man was not at all the type of person she expected to rescue her. He was not young and he had a hard glint in his eyes that made him look rather mean. Still, she sighed, this was a much better fate than having to live with _Natsu _any longer. That simply would have been too much for her poor heart to handle. Perhaps she could learn to love this man instead?

"Um…thank you my dear Prince for rescuing me from the Dragon's clutches," she timidly spoke up after about an hour of travelling in complete silence. She decided to overlook the fact that he had not done any rescuing at all, instead leaving it to his co-workers. The man turned an interested eye towards her and smirked slightly,

"My dear, I am not a Prince…"

"Oh, a King?"

"Not yet my dear, not yet. But soon!"

Lucy gulped at the implication of what he was saying, but shook it off quickly, she had known for many years that she would be expected to marry the person who rescued her and this was certainly not the time to be getting cold feet about it.

"May I ask your name? I feel that it is prudent to know the name of the man I'm to marry, after all".

The man sat forward in his seat, his long silver hair falling across his face slightly to give him an ominous look, "Hades. Master Hades," he growled simply before sitting back with a smug look on his face after seeing Lucy's reaction to his name.

Her mouth went slack and she leaned back in her chair, her heart thumping like crazy. _Hades. Master Hades._

And Lucy knew that she had made a terrible mistake.

* * *

**A/N: **Oh God, I hated writing the bit with Natsu and Lucy fighting because I love them and it just felt so mean! Fear not, they will have their time soon…muaha

Anyway, keep on reviewing, I can't thank you enough for how many you've given me. I honestly never thought I'd get this many!

Also,_** ~shamless advertising begin~**_ I started a Levy and Gajeel story, called "Status Issues" (it's in my profile bit) so if you like that pairing would you mind checking that out? ^_^ _**~shameless advertising end~**_


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 16**

When he finally returned to the Guild, Natsu always imagined he would be in high spirits as it would finally be his time to return home. It would be the moment he had been living for, for the majority of his life after all. And that bountiful reward of 1,000,000 Jewels, he was definitely looking forward to that. But this was not the case. He hadn't imagined that he would be in a foul mood as he pushed the doors open roughly and stormed into the noisy Guild, with Happy padding along nervously behind him. At his arrival the Guild suddenly went silent, their eyes widened in shock before everyone erupted into a flurry of shouts:

"NATSU'S HOME!"

"HAHA! That meant he finally got beat, huh?"

"HE'S HOME, HE'S HOME!"

"FINALLY!"

"All right! Everybody pay up!" Cana yelled happily, she had placed a bet on how long Natsu would be gone for.

Natsu ignored all the cheers and taunts and threw himself into a booth, for the first time in his life he found himself craving the solitude of the castle rather than the screams and shouts of his Guild members. After a few moments, he looked up to find that Gray, Erza, and Mirajane had come to his booth and were staring at him expectantly. They stared at each other in silence for a while before Mira broke into an uneasy smile,

"So, Natsu…does it feel good to be back?"

Natsu shrugged, he had no use for words right now. He had never felt so hurt and humiliated in his life and wanted to crawl into a hole far away from everyone.

"Jesus Natsu, we all knew you'd be pissed that you finally lost to someone, but that _was _in your job description. Get over it!" Gray demanded, punching him in the arm in an attempt to get a reaction from the down Fire Mage. He had expected him to jump up and immediately try and punch him back, just like he always did. However, Natsu said and did nothing apart from slope further down in his chair. The three stared at each other worried. They turned to Happy, who merely shrugged. Natsu hadn't spoken a word to him since they left the castle. He didn't even complain when they hailed a carriage back into Magnolia, something was definitely wrong. Mira frowned and lightly put and hand on Natsu's arm, her woman's intuition was acting up,

"Natsu…do…do you miss her?"

His head shot up and he gave Mira a glare so fierce that she recoiled back slightly, "miss _who? _The Princess? Why the hell would I miss _her_?"

Erza, Gray and Mira flinched at his harsh tone, he hadn't called her "Princess" in a while, he had resorted into calling her Lucy, or more often than not, simply Luce.

"Well, you and her did become very close and…" she sighed, "oh Natsu, you didn't fall for her did you?"

Gray stared thoughtfully at his friend, he had his suspicions that this is exactly what had happened.

Natsu paused for a fraction of a second before laughing grimly, "Fall? Fall, for _her?_ Are you mad? Why would I fall for her of her of all people? She was just a source of money, it made sense to be nice to her after all, there was no point in being mean to her. But falling for her? HA!"

He sounded so bitter and angry that Happy, Erza, Gray and Mira were at a loss for words. It was not like Natsu to sound so angry about anyone, even his enemies. This was new.

"O-ok then," Mira said uncertainly, "well, was she ok when she left with the Prince?"

"She was fine," Natsu answered curtly, "look, I'm kind of tired, I'll talk to you guys later," and with that he pushed away from the table and began to walk towards the Guild entrance.

"Wait, Natsu!" Erza called from her seat, causing Natsu to turn around - no matter what kind of mood he was in, her just couldn't bring it in himself to ignore a command from Erza, "what was the name of the Prince? I would like to send Lucy a congratulatory basket of some sorts".

Natsu shrugged, "I didn't get his name. I don't care for that matter. He was old though, sort of creepy…"

"You let Lu-chan go to some old creepy guy!" Levy suddenly screeched, she had just entered the Guild and had heard the last of Natsu's answer.

"He beat me. It's not my job to make sure the right guy beats me. Now, I'm going to bed. Bye," he grumbled before quickly speeding towards the exit, not giving anyone else the chance to intercept him.

The door slammed shut loudly behind him, leaving the Guild members in a state of confusion.

"What was that about?" Levy asked, with her brows furrowed as she made her way deeper into the Guild, stopping at the booth Erza and the others were crowed around. Erza sighed and massaged her temples in an attempt to get rid of the growing headache was quickly gaining,

"I worried about this happening when he took the job," she revealed, "getting beaten is not something Natsu is used to, it doesn't come to that much of a shock that he's taking it so badly."

"Men must be prepared to lose every once in a while, that is the greatest step to being a man!" Elfman roared from his corner in the room. The majority of the Guild agreed with him. They were Fairy Tail, none of them liked losing, but they all knew that it was something inevitable every once in a while.

"That's not it!" Happy's high pitched voice spoke up, "Natsu didn't lose…well he did…but-"

"What do you mean?" Erza barked quickly, "if he didn't lose, then he should still be there with her!"

Happy shook his head, "he _was _losing. He was getting beaten up pretty bad, but Lucy stopped the fight and left with the Prince."

"Really?"

"Aye."

They stood in silence for a few moments, each of them trying do digest the information they had just heard.

"Wow," Mirajane finally breathed out, "so Lucy volunteered to go, to avoid Natsu getting hurt, huh?"

"It appears so," Erza said glumly. This really wasn't a situation they had considered. It was obvious to everyone who had met both Natsu and Lucy, that the two had developed a friendship with one another. How deep their friendship went was something still left to be determined.

"That doesn't explain why Natsu was so…so harsh just now," Levy murmured thoughtfully.

"Juvia thinks it is a coping mechanism," Juvia spoke out, popping up unnoticed behind Gray as usual, "Natsu-san has feelings for Lucy-san-"

"He said he doesn't like her like that though!"

"Do not doubt Juvia when it comes to love, for Juvia is an expert," she gushed dreamily, her thoughts clearly drifting towards the shirtless Ice Mage standing next to her, "anyway, as Juvia was saying. Natsu-san has feelings for Lucy-san, and for Lucy-san to willingly go with the Prince, it would have been a large crush to Natsu-san's self esteem. Almost as if Lucy-san rejected him."

"But Lu-chan wouldn't have done that!" Levy cried, outraged that these insinuations were being made against her friend, "she's not that sort of person!"

"Not to mention, it's not manly!" Elfman put in, though he was steadily ignored. He never seemed to understand that women weren't even counted as "men".

Mirajane waved her hands in the air to try and restore some calm within the growing tension of the Guild, "we know Levy, we know Lucy's not like that. But, you have to imagine, that's what Natsu would have been thinking. It's no wonder he's reacted like. Poor boy," she added sadly. She had grown up playing with Natsu and the rest, and he was like a little brother to her. It hurt her to see him so upset.

Happy frowned as he stared up at his friends, he had a feeling that there was more to this than just a simple misunderstanding on Natsu's part. Natsu and Lucy had _both _seemed awfully hostile to each other before she left, but he opted not to say anything. After all, he was a cat who knew next to nothing about relationships. He still couldn't get one certain white furred cat to accept a date from him!

"Just give him some time to cool off," Gray decided, "he'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Ah~ Gray-sama is so wise as usual!" Juvia cooed.

"I hope he is. I don't like seeing him so down," Mira admitted, staring at the door he had left minutes ago.

"Neither do I," Erza said thoughtfully, "neither do I. But we have to have faith in Natsu, he will surely recover from this little rut soon."

Whilst the other Fairy Tail members nodded in agreement and slowly began to get back to whatever they were doing before Natsu arrived, one member sat in the shadows sipping his tankard of beer thoughtfully.

Makarov was not the Master of Fairy Tail for nothing. He was an extremely powerful Mage, and not only that, he also had a wonderful intuition. Something big was going to happen soon. He could feel it.

* * *

The castle was bleak and cold, a sharp contrast to the castle in which she had stayed in with Natsu for so many years. The walls were gray and cold, and there was absolutely no carpet, meaning her feet were freezing in the flimsy slippers she had been given to wear. As soon as she stepped foot in the castle, Hades had demanded she take off her clothes and put something more "fitting for a Princess" and she found herself once again draped in the long dresses of her childhood. It was a rather nice dress, a deep red in colour, but it felt foreign on her skin. Like she wasn't supposed to be wearing such things. She realised that she had gotten comfortably used to wearing short skirts and other casual clothing whilst living with Natsu. She wanted to cry. This was not at all how she imagined her romantic Prince to be.

She had expected him to sweep her off her feet, and that she would fall in love the moment she stared into his eyes. The only emotion she felt as she had stared into this particular man's eyes was fear. She had inadvertently undone years of work and had walked straight into the clutches of the very man she had to keep away from. Hades. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of the predicament she had put herself in, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was well and truly trapped.

She lay on her new bed, which despite it's largeness and thickness of the mattress, it felt horribly uncomfortable to her. She curled into a ball under the sheets with her eyes squeezed shut, trying to pretend she was back in her comforting bed with Natsu's arms draped around her. He would gently stroke her back and whisper helpful words of comfort to her in an attempt to soothe her and then he-

"No!" she shot out of bed and rubbed the tears out of her eyes, "forget him Lucy, he's not worth your time!" her heart panged in pain as she couldn't help but remember his cruel words. What was it he had said again,

"_me and Lucy are just friends, okay? This is just a mission and she's just a source of money, once I finish this mission I'll probably never even see her again anyway…"_

She sniffed sadly as she remembered what he had said about her, "at least he was right about one thing. I'll probably never see him again…"

She didn't want to be sad, especially not about him of all people. But she couldn't help herself, she had grown attached to him in the time she had been awake. Hell, she had fallen head over heels for him, and he had thrown it back in her face. He didn't deserve her sadness, and yet…she couldn't help but sob a few more fresh tears as the harsh reality hit home. She would never see him again. Her first, and best friend, gone.

Her depressing musings were interrupted with a sudden rapping of her door. The abrupt sound made her jolt slightly, and she quickly hopped out of bed and made her way to the large ornate mirror that stood by the far end of her room.

"O-oh dear," she winced as she inspected her reflection, her cheeks were red and blotchy, her eyes were swollen and bloodshot due to her excessive crying, her hair was a mess, and her lips were chapped and bleeding ever so slightly as she had taken to nibbling them. The knocks on the door interrupted her once more and she sighed in defeat, whoever was at the door was obviously becoming impatient and there was clearly nothing she could do about her rough appearance now. Whoever it was would just have to deal with it. She scampered to the door quickly and pulled it open, she practically recoiled from the person as soon as she saw them.

"H-Hello Meredy," she squeaked fearfully. She was sure that the young girl would do nothing to cause her harm, but she could not help but be scared of her after seeing what she had done to Natsu. She made Lucy feel nervous, she looked like a dainty little girl, but had proved she had the power to be a viscous killing machine. Lucy did not like her, but then again, she was sure she wouldn't like anyone who had any affiliation to Hades.

"Master requests your presence in the dining hall for dinner within the hour. He asks that you dress adequately. I will be back in an hour to escort you, please make sure you're ready."

Lucy nodded to show she understood, and Meredy promptly turned around and made her way down the dark corridor. As soon as she was out of sight, Lucy firmly shut her door and slid down the wall. Once again, tears began racking her petite frame.

"Ma-ma," she choked out through her tears, "I'm…so…sorry Mama. I'm scared…" she admitted as she tried to wipe her tears away, although it didn't do much good since more fell immediately afterwards, "I'm so, so scared…"

There was a reason her parents had tried to desperately to keep her out of Hades clutches, and she had an awful feeling she was about to find out why.

.

.

.

"You look wonderful, Princess," Hades commented politely as Lucy strode into the dining hall. She did look extremely pretty, wearing a dark green gown that trailed behind her like a murky waterfall. The dress clutched nicely to her waist, accentuating her natural curves. She was glad that she had managed to rid her face and hair of the evidence of sitting in her room crying her heart out for hours on end, for she was sure that wouldn't go down well with Hades.

"Thank you," she replied curtly. Hades smirked at her harsh tone, but said nothing. Instead he walked calmly to where she stood, plucked her hand into his own and directed her to her seat which he had already pulled out for her,

"Take a seat, Princess," he purred in a tone that made the fine hairs on her neck stand up. She said nothing as she firmly planted her bottom in the plush seat. Hades smirked as he made his way to his own seat at the other end of the table, so they were directly facing each other. As he sat down, he extended his arms over the table of food,

"Does this look suitable for you, Princess?"

Lucy nodded quickly, the table was covered in an extravagant banquet, and she couldn't help but wonder how he expected them to eat it all between just the two of them. A large golden chicken sat in the middle, surrounded by gold and silver trays filled to the brim with potatoes, pasties, vegetables, soups, mini sandwiches, and other delicious savouries. Although the food looked absolutely flawless she could not help but be mildly repulsed by the extravagance of it all. She found herself craving the simplicity of the castle back with Natsu. She wanted to be sitting back at that giant table, watching Natsu stick his hand into the bowl of food.

_Bad Lucy,_ she scolded herself for allowing her thoughts to drift to the pink haired dragon, _he's not worth your time._

"You seem distracted," Hade suddenly spoke, "is something the matter?"

"N-no…I'm perfectly fine."

Hades frowned at her tone, the reluctance and harshness of it was clearly evident on her tongue, "are you not happy, Princess? I tried my best to make you as comfortable as possible, is your room not to your liking? Are your clothes too small?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the man in front of her, was he really going to play dumb? With a deep sigh of breath, she shook her head and forced a small smile onto her face,

"I'm fine, thank you," she picked up the shiny fork and speared a piece of turkey breast onto it, before depositing it onto her plate, "I'm just fine."

"You don't look it. In fact, you look as if you wish that piece of turkey was me," Hades laughed gruffly. He had read her very well. The sound of her throwing her fork back onto the plate echoed around the large dining hall,

"Very well," she huffed, "if you're so insistent in speaking to me, I want you to answer some questions for me."

"Go ahead."

"Why me?" she asked, trying to keep the note of desperateness out of her voice, "what made you make that wager with my father all those years ago?"

Hades leaned back in his chair and started massaging his beard, "ah yes, that was such a long time ago. Over 18 years, I believe, you are 18 aren't you?"

Lucy nodded shakily.

"Excellent, we shall not come across any problems with the marriage-"

"M-Marriage?" Lucy spluttered. Hades raised an eyebrow at her,

"Yes, marriage. You always expected to marry the person who rescued you, did you not?"

"But…well...I…"

"You didn't think that the person whose fault it was that you were put in that position, would be the one rescuing you, did you?" Hades smirked as he realised he was right, "many, many years ago, during my travels, I came across a fortune teller."

"A fortune teller?"

"Yes, an ancient magic that even I have my doubts about, but it appears this particular woman was a true fortune teller. She told me that I would come across and man, a very poor man, he would be my apprentice, and then that man would grow to become King. Can you guess who that man is?"

"M-my father?"

"Correct. At first I ignored the fortune tellers tale, but after time, it became clear to me that she was right. Your father was dirt poor when he came to me for my apprentice job. He was highly abled and within a few years, he had risen through the ranks to become my right hand man. But this didn't solve my problem of him becoming a King. I couldn't have someone who worked for _me _rising above me. The thought alone is preposterous. That is why I concocted an ingenious plan. I would allow your father the chance to be King for a few years, and then I would snatch it from him. How, you ask? With his first born child."

A light dawned in Lucy's mind as he spoke.

"His child would become heir to the throne of course. If it was a boy, I would simply take the child and become regent to the throne. It would not be difficult to corrupt the child into writing me as the King of Fiore legally, not much at all. And if it were a girl - as you are now - I would simply marry her when she became of age. Therefore making me the undisputable King of Fiore," he brandished his hands happily in the air, "and here we are now. My careful planning has come to fruition finally. I will make you my wife, I will have my men do away with your father and-"

"No! You will not hurt my father!" Lucy shrieked, slamming her fists angrily on the table, "you may have succeeded in ruining my life, but you will not touch him!"

This was absolutely furious, this one man, this one _selfish, arrogant_ man had practically stolen her whole life away from her in a fit of jealousy against her father, and he wanted to take more? She scowled at Hades as she pushed herself away from the table,

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm no longer hungry, I'm going to my room," she turned to Hades and pointed a finger at him, "you are not to lay a hand on my Father!"

"My dear Princess, I'm afraid you don't have a say in that matter," Hades then clicked his fingers and barked, "Azuma!"

A tall, bulky man with dark brown hair emerged from the shadows, causing Lucy to frown. How long had he been hiding there?

"Yes, Master Hades?" his low gravely voice spoke out quietly.

"Take the Princess back to her room. Afterwards pick a team of two more members, and march to the Palace. Dispose of the King."

"Yes Master!" he then turned to face a livid Lucy.

"No! I told you, no! You're not allowed to touch him, you're-"

"Azuma…"

Azuma nodded before lifting up and large hand and pressing lightly on a certain point on Lucy's neck.

"What…do…" she blinked a few times, wondering if she was imagining the black dots that had begun to invade her vision.

"Sleep now Princess," Azuma commanded. And then everything went black.

* * *

King Charles of Fiore was a very lonely man. He had effectively lost his one and only daughter after only five short years of knowing her, and then he lost his wife. He longed for the day his daughter would stand by him once more. He would beg for her forgiveness for his mistake all those years ago. It wouldn't be the same as having his whole family back, but it would be enough for him. That was the only thought that kept him alive and going every day. If it hadn't been for Lucy, he was sure that he would have given up years ago.

He sat alone in his large private office, swirling a now lukewarm glass of brandy in his hand. How many years had it been now since he had last seen his dear Lucy? He was losing track. That was something his wife always kept track of, he had relied on her for these sorts of things. Without her he was lost, he was incomplete. As he mused, he heard several loud bangs outside his room. Frowning, he moved to get up and find out what was causing all this noise. But before he even managed to push himself away from his chair, he door was smashed open and two of his personal knight, dressed in the Army of Fiore armour, bounded into his room.

"What is the meaning of this!"

"Your highness," the taller of the two knights bowed hastily, "you are under attack, it is our duty to get you to the safe room before more reinforcements can arrive."

"U-under attack?" Charles stammered as the knights directed him out of his office, and down the route which would lead him to the safe room, "by whom?"

"Master Hades."

Charles felt his heart skip a few beats as they ran.

_Master Hades_. The fact that Hades had begun to attack him meant only one thing. He had failed his daughter.

"Call Makarov," he ordered gruffly as they ran, "let him know the situation."

* * *

Makarov sat alone in his office, it was not as comfortably furnished as King Charles' but it was enough for him. On his table sat one item, a crystal calling Lacrima.

"What is happening?" Makarov asked into the Lacrima. Inside the Lacrima there was the face a man dressed in armour, he was panting heavily,

"Master Makarov of Fairy Tail?" the man asked.

"I am he…"

"King Charles of Fiore has requested your assistance," a loud bang resounded in the distance, "we are currently being by Master Hades and we need- argghh" the Lacrima fizzled out as yet another explosion happened, and the man was nowhere to be seen.

Makarov groaned as he pressed his fingers to his temple, "Natsu…what have you done?" before he had time to deliberate the terrible situation he now found himself in, his own door was roughly shoved open to reveal a panting Mirajane.

"Master! You have to come quick, the castle…the castle it's up in smoke!"

"I know. King Charles is being attacked," he jumped off his raised seat and began to march out of his door, "Mira, I want Erza, Natsu, Gray, Loki, Gajeel and Juvia. They are all to drop any planned missions immediately. We're going to help."

Mirajane nodded and quickly ran out to inform her fellow Guild members of their task.

"God damn it, Natsu…" Makarov groaned.

.

.

_Why the hell does he have to live so far_, Gray grumbled to himself as he skidded round a corner and began to make his way down the cobbled pathway that led to the house of Natsu and Happy. After Mirajane had informed them that they would be providing assistance to protect the King, it was their civic duty after all, Gray had been charged with the job of getting Natsu, since he had been at home all day and had not heard the news.

"Oi Natsu!" Gray bellowed as he practically ripped his door off it's hinges to enter his home. His home was messy and full of dust and cobwebs, something that happened after you didn't live there for many years. Normally, Gray would have taken this opportunity to mock Natsu for the messiness of his home, but right now, they had bigger problems. He expertly manoeuvred his way around the many boxes, suitcases, and even a home of spiders, and pushed his way into Natsu's bedroom.

"Oi, flame head!" he roared this time, as he entered Natsu's bedroom and found said boy lying across his bed, looking as if he had no intention to move at all.

"Get out," Natsu said in a monotone, with his head lying squashed into his pillow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gray questioned him furiously, stalking over to his bed and prodding him in the back, "we've got a mission, get up. Now."

"I'm not going."

"Like hell you're not," Gray laughed as he took off his pants, "it's a mission from Master. He's picked a team specifically!"

The mention of a team specifically picked by Master going on the mission seemed to pique Natsu's attention, for he sat up in bed and faced Gray, trying to ignore the way he was now taking off his shirt.

"What do you mean, a team? What type of mission is it? And put some pants on, geez."

"King Charles has been attacked, by some guy named Hades. We're going as reinforcements to kick some ass. So, hurry up!"

Natsu's eyes widened, "King Charles…but…but that's Lucy's Dad, right?"

Gray nodded.

"And…Hades is the guy I was protecting Lucy from, right?"

Gray nodded once again.

"So, why is Hades going after her Dad?"

"God knows, we've just gotta go kick some ass, so get _up_!"

Natsu shook his head a collapsed back down onto his bed, "nope, I'm not coming."

"You're not…what?"

"Not coming. I'm not in the mood, so get outta my house stalker boy, it's getting creepy."

"Look," Gray began, getting extremely impatient, "I know you're still upset, or mad, whatever, about what Lucy did-"

"How do you know about that?" Natsu snapped sharply. Lucy had humiliated him, and he certainly wasn't planning on tell anyone about what had transpired between the two of them.

"Happy told us that she stopped by fight, because you were getting injured badly,"

Natsu felt a sigh of relief escape his lips at that comment, although Gray did not seem to notice, he was glad his real reason for being in such a foul mood had not been revealed.

"…but really, I know you're probably pissed and now you think she rejected you or something, or your male pride is hurt," Gray shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really remember what Juvia or Mira were saying. But _still_, it was dumb of you to develop feelings for her in the first place, you knew what was going to happen!"

Natsu blinked at his friend in amazement for a few seconds, he wasn't even completely sure as to what had just happened, but he was sure of one thing,

"I don't have any feelings for her. Now get out, I told you I'm not coming!"

Gray's fists clenched into balls in anger, "you don't have a damn choice, the Master ordered it _and_ it's our duty as citizens of Fiore! So get your ass out of bed!"

Natsu's own fists began to ball up in anger, he could feel his temper getting the better of him, "I'm not going. I've done my damn 'duty' for the King by wasting my life babysitting his bratty daughter for all these years! I don't owe him…or her…_anything_!" he shouted angrily, leaving Gray in a stunned silence.

"Natsu…"

"Just piss off Gray, I told you I'm not coming. Get out of my house before I burn your ass."

Gray wavered uncertainly on the spot before narrowing his eyes and growling,

"Fine, but _you _need to deal with Erza and Master then."

"Fine."

Gray stared at his obviously depressed friend one last time, before groaning in annoyance - he was definitely going to get in trouble for this - and turning and running out of his house. Natsu's angry outburst about Lucy was worrying him, something had definitely gone on between the two that Natsu had yet to inform him about,

"What the hell are you hiding, Natsu?"

Natsu breathed out a satisfied grunt of relief when he heard his front door being roughly slammed shut by Gray. He knew he was being stupid, and would probably get an earful from both Erza and the Master when he finally decided to return to the Guild. But at that moment in time, he couldn't find it in himself to care. He had been like this when Igneel left him. He searched and searched for his dragon father for a few days, but after he realised Igneel wasn't coming back, he found himself a little cave in Magnolia Forest, and had curled up there. He didn't move for days, not even to eat or drink. It was out of pure luck that Makarov found him after three days and probably saved him from death. He just didn't deal with rejection very well. And Lucy had done just that. She had rejected him, in the worst way possible.

"…_you're just a lowly dragon. We are not friends. Nor will we ever be. So stop acting like you care about me, we both know you don't. I'm nothing but a source of money for you, we both know it. And you…well you're nothing but a source of entertainment for me. Got it?"_

His groan sounded almost painful as he rolled over in his bed, her sharp, harsh and unloving words still ringing in his mind. Yep, he definitely wasn't ready to leave his house yet.

* * *

The walls of the castle had begun to crumble under their attacks. The injured bodies of the many guards they had beaten lined the corridors. And yet, the three men had barely broken a sweat between them. This was child's play.

Azuma rolled his eyes in disgust as he merely flicked a knight out of the way with his pinky finger.

"Are these really the people in charge of guarding the King?" he asked lazily, pushing yet another guard into the wall, with very little effort whatsoever, "Kain, the path is clear, go find the King," he ordered to the fat man standing to his left. Kain nodded with and with a smug smirk, he began to waddle off through the castle, to find the room in which the King had been safely hidden away.

"We shouldn't be complaining, Azuma-sama. This just means it's an easy job," a gruff voice spoke out. Standing next to Azuma, batting oncoming guards away with just as little effort, stood a tall goat humanoid type creature, wearing a cut off suit and a pair of mysterious black tinted glasses. This goat was Caprico, one of the revered Seven Kin of Purgatory.

"You're right, but still…I would have liked a decent fight," Azuma grumbled, not at all liking the way they had stormed the castle and defeated practically all of the guards with very little ease. There were only three of them after all! They hadn't expected the guards to be able to damage them too much, but what they had given had been laughable.

"If a battle is what you want, then a battle is what you shall get!"

Azuma's eyebrows quirked up in amusement as he and Caprico both turned around in the large corridor.

"And what is this?"

"I believe they're called reinforcements, Azuma-sama," Caprico sneered, his eyes searching the group of five people that stood before them. His cold eyes locked onto Loki's furious brown ones, he had not expected to see a familiar face.

"We are Fairy Tail Mages, and are here to stop your unlawful assault on our King!" a tall red haired woman dressed in a shiny armour shouted at them, "surrender, or prepare for battle!"

Azuma and Caprico both took a cocky step forward,

"Fairy Tail, eh?" Azuma grinned and began cracking his knuckles together, "I may just get the fight I wanted."

Erza's scowl deepened as she stared at the two Mages in front of them. She could sense their magical power, they were extremely powerful.

"Loki," she barked.

"Yeah, Erza?"

"You take the goat man, I can tell from your glares that you've met before?"

Loki nodded curtly, "he's Caprico. A Stellar Spirit, like myself. I haven't seen him in a long while, he disappeared from the Celestial Realm a few years ago."

"Good. You'll take him out. Got it?"

Loki nodded.

"Gajeel!" she next barked, causing the Iron Dragon Slayer to jump slightly,

"Yeah?"

"You, go after the fat one that ran off down there. He's probably going after the King, think you can handle him?"

Gajeel's lips curled upwards into a predatory smirk, "hell yeah."

"Gray, Juvia, you're with me," she finished, she would have liked Natsu there with them, these were powerful foes and his fire power would have been useful, but she would have to make do with what she had. And kill Natsu later.

"Alright, failure is not an option!" she bellowed, "attack!"

Azuma and Caprico both smirked wildly as the Fairy Tail Mages began running towards them.

"And so the real battle starts," Azuma murmured, getting into his fighting stance.

"Indeed."

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Natsu wasn't a complete and utter idiot. It just took him a little longer than most people to completely grasp the situation at hand. That is why, the young dragon slayer found himself unable to get back to his distressed sleep after Gray had left.

As much as he tried, he could not get his thoughts away from a certain blonde haired Princess. She kept on niggling at the back of his mind, as if his subconscious were trying to make him remember something.

He scowled to himself as the image of her smiling face drifted into his thoughts.

"Bloody hell," he cursed as he shot out of bed, trying to shake her out of his mind. This wasn't supposed to be happening. _She _was the one who had betrayed him. She was the one who had said those spiteful words. He shouldn't have cared about her anymore. She was nothing to him. Or…that was what he wanted to think.

"Guilty conscience?"

Natsu let out an extremely girlish scream - though he would deny that later on - as he looked to his right to find Master Makarov perched on one of the stools in his bedroom.

"W-what…how…what…do…when did you get in here?" Natsu stuttered, still feeling extremely frightened - though he would deny _that _later on as well.

"I have been here for a while," Makarov informed him, "you've been cursing Princess Lucy's name a lot. I assume something went on between the two of you?"

Natsu's cheeks flushed a dark shade of red, but he said nothing, causing Makarov to sigh.

"Ah, to be young and in love once again."

"I am _not _in love!" Natsu argued, wondering why everyone was saying things like this. Makarov rolled his eyes,

"Denial…a common stage in love. _But_," he added quickly and firmly as he noticed Natsu open his mouth to argue back, "I am not here to discuss your love life. I am here to tell you…I am disappointed in you, Natsu."

"Disappointed…? Oh, yeah…for not going on the mission? Sorry about that," Natsu ducked his head a little, "I…I just wasn't in the mood."

Makarov shook his head, "you misunderstand. A Fairy Tail Mage never leaves his mission incomplete. Your failure to complete your mission has tainted our good name, and has perhaps put the King in grave danger."

Natsu frowned, not understand at all what Makarov was talking about, "but I completed my mission. I guarded the…the…" his breath hitched as he thought of Lucy, "the Princess until a worthy Prince came. Done."

"I'm afraid not. I have every right to believe that at this moment in time, Princess Lucy is in the hands of Master Hades, the very person you were to protect her from. And I also believe, that you gave her to him."

It all suddenly clicked in Natsu's head, and he felt dread and anger pooling in his stomach. How could he have messed up so badly?

"And…and that's why Hades is attacking the King now?"

Makarov nodded.

"But why?"

"I am not too sure, but whatever it is, it cannot be good. Hades was not always an evil man, but he became corrupted along the way. And now he is the man you see today. Hmm, where are you going?" Makarov asked with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes as he watched Natsu jump off his bed quickly.

"I'm going to help Erza and the rest! This is my fault, I'm not gonna sit back and watch them all fight."

"And what about your mission?"

Natsu grinned, "I'm going to finish that to. I'm a Fairy Tail Mage after all!" and with that, he began to run at fall speed out of his home.

"Atta boy, Natsu…"

As Natsu ran, his grin began to slowly fade and was replaced with a grimace of determination.

"I'm doing this for my Fairy Tail pride," he tried to tell himself, "not for her. I'm not doing this for her!" Even still, a wave of anger coursed through his body as he began to imagine Hades putting his filthy hands over her. Despite the anger he felt towards her for her words and actions, he knew he could not leave her in his hands. He would never be able to live with himself if he did.

_I'm coming Luce…_

* * *

Gajeel's breath came out in ragged pants as he ducked out of the way from a powerful punch. He hadn't expected that fat man he had been chasing to be able to pack such a powerful punch. They were currently fighting in a large room with only two doors. One was the one they had both entered in, and the other was a large steel door that stood in the very far end of the room. The door led to an impenetrable room, and the only way to enter said room was through the steel door. And that was where the King was. Gajeel was just thankful that he had managed to intercept Kain before he had the chance to wrench open the door.

"_Iron Dragon's Fist_" he roared, sending a punch towards Kain. Kain bellowed in agony as the punch collided with his rippling gut and sent him flying across the room. They were both evenly matched. Every time Kain would punch Gajeel, Gajeel would punch him back, again and again. They weren't getting anywhere, the only thing they were succeeding in doing was losing energy. He had to end this fight soon, he didn't know for how much longer he could continue.

Using the last of his magic reserve, he used it to transform both arms into a point iron lance each.

"Let's go!" he yelled at Kain, before taking a running leap towards him, intent of piercing him in the neck with his lances. Kain began to run forward to, brandishing both of his powerful fists in the air. They both leapt into the air, and Gajeel grinned madly. Kain had curved his body to the side, correctly thinking Gajeel was aiming for his neck, and he had left his stomach completely open. Gajeel raised his arms into the air and began to thrust them downwards.

However, just as his lance was about to pierce skin, a loud roar ricocheted throughout the room,

"_FIRE DRAGONS ROAR!"_

And the room was suddenly engulfed in a powerful blaze. Both Gajeel and Kain dropped to the ground and ducked, hoping to avoid being burnt alive. The flames and smoke began to slowly fade away, but before Gajeel even had the chance to get up and see what the hell was happening - though he had a very good idea - Natsu's furious sounding voice rang out across the room.

"_You_!" Natsu roared, stalking into the room and making his way straight to Kain's cowering form on the floor.

Gajeel had to hand it to him, Natsu looked downright terrifying. Gajeel didn't know what it was that had caused this change in the Fire Dragon Mage, but it was working. In his anger, you could practically see his magical power circling his body, with malicious intent. His eyes were cold and guarded. Hell, Gajeel was sure that if he hadn't been an ally, he probably would have been a little bit scared of Natsu right now. He had never seen him like this.

"Oi, Salamander," he called, "where are Titania and the rest?"

"Sorting out the other two jerks," Natsu snarled angrily, he had passed Erza and the others on his way and they had been fairing pretty well. It seemed as if Loki had defeated his opponent, and they were all teaming up to beat the last guy. If it had been any other day, Natsu would have stopped to help without a second thought, but as it stood, he had places to be. He took his attention away from Gajeel and returned it back to the cowering man before him,

"You, what the hell are you doing with Lucy?"

"L-Lucy?" Kain stuttered, he was really getting rather scared now. The boy before him had a lot of murderous intent swirling around him.

Natsu narrowed his eyes and brought a fist up, and quickly lit it on fire,

"Lucy. Yes. You've got 30 seconds to tell me everything, then I set your ass on fire. Go."

Gajeel's eyebrows rose in shock, he had never seen Natsu so brutal before.

Kain gulped, "a-ah Lucy…she is, ah…the Princess, right?"

Natsu nodded, "25 seconds left."

"All…all I know is that M-Master plans on m-marrying her, to become K-King. I…I was s-sent to kill the present K-King, in order for th-there to be n-no…ah…no problems for M-Master!"

Natsu cursed as he lowered his fists and began to run towards the exit once more. He had been right, he had failed his mission. He had failed Lucy.

An angry growl tore through his throat and he sped up.

"Salamander? Where the hell are you going?"

Natsu stopped and stared Gajeel straight in the eye before saying, "you can finish him off," he pointed over his shoulder to the still quivering Kain.

Gajeel nodded, a smile spreading over his face at the thought of pummelling someone, "but…where are you going?"

Natsu gave his friend a small smile as he said calmly and simply, "I'm going to save my Princess."

* * *

**A/N: **Oh my God, this chapter is so long. I considered making it into two different chapters, but idk I thought it worked better as one than when I made it two? Oh well, omg when this hit 400 reviews I actually screamed. You guys are…unbelievable :3


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 17**

Erza sat panting on the dusty floor of the semi destroyed castle of King Charles. Next to her lay the unconscious body of Azuma, a few feet away she could see Gray and Juvia checking each other for wounds, (_"Ah Gray-sama, you are injured. Let Juvia heal you with a kiss!")_ and in other direction she got a final glimpse of Loki as he stepped back into the Celestial Realm with Caprico chained behind him. Walking along the corridor in her line of sight she could see Gajeel sauntering cockily with Kain thrown haphazardly over his shoulder. All in all, the battle had gone well. It had been a difficult one, even for someone as skilled as herself, but they had managed it. They had saved the King.

"Where's squinty eyes?" Gray called as they watched Gajeel unceremoniously slam Kain's unconscious body onto the floor next to Azuma. Gajeel stretched and clicked his bones before answering. His battle had been a tough one as well, and, although it annoyed him to admit it, he had to say he was glad that Natsu had come when he did. Who knows how it would have turned out if he hadn't.

"Salamander? Ah, he said something about going to save the Princess," he said simply, expecting the others to just nod in answer. He did not expect them all to gasp,

"WHAT?"

Erza immediately stood up, all the previous fatigue she felt was gone, "is he an idiot?"

"Is that trick question?" Gray murmured quietly enough that Erza could not hear his sarcastic remark.

This was bad news.

"The three we defeated are part of a Guild called Grimoire Heart, you've heard of it?"

"Juvia has…Juvia thinks they are a Dark Guild?"

Erza nodded, "yes. And Hades is the Master of that Guild. Whilst the majority of the Guild members are below par and we would surely have no difficulty dealing them, there are seven men and woman who are incredibly strong. We've just defeated three of them, and it took six of us!"

Realization dawned on them and both Gajeel and Gray groaned in annoyance at Natsu's stupidity.

"So…what you're saying is, Natsu's gone to Hade's where the remaining four of these seven are? Not to mention Hades?" Gray asked, praying that this was all some sort of sick joke.

Erza nodded her head gravely, "unfortunately he has."

"Jesus Christ, does the kid have a death wish?" Gajeel grumbled.

"Juvia thinks that Natsu-san isn't the most…smart of people."

"You can say that again," Gray agreed as he took off his pants.

"Juvia thinks that Natsu-san isn't-"

"We have to go after him," Erza interrupted Juvia, but immediately shook her head afterwards. Going after Natsu in their state right now wasn't feasible. But it would still take far too much time for all of them to go back to the Guild and rally up another team. But they definitely couldn't leave Natsu alone now.

"Alright!" she barked, earning everyone's attention, "Juvia, go back to the Guild, inform Master of what has happened. Tell him we're going to Hades castle to go after Natsu, but we'll need reinforcements. Got it?"

"Juvia understands!"

"Right, Gray…Gajeel, you're with me!"

* * *

Her head was aching when she finally awoke, and she found herself highly disorientated. As she shot up in her bed, her hands flew to her head and she cried out in pain as she felt a stabbing pain shoot through her head, and a dull throbbing on her neck. She imagined this is how she would feel if she ever had the misfortune to suffer from a hangover. She stared around the room she found herself in, and for a few seconds her eyes widened in fear as she took in her strange surroundings. But then,

"Oh…right…" she muttered glumly, the memories rushing back to her quickly. She was no longer in the familiar castle with Natsu, she was with Hades. A shiver racked through her body as she thought of the older man and she pulled the thick blankets over her body.

"Hades…" she snarled, remembering how the man had revealed his plan to do away with her father. What had happened after that? Her hand flew to her neck and she tenderly rubbed the area where she felt a dull throbbing. Her expression grew even more angrier as she remembered the way Azuma had placed his hand on her. She wasn't sure exactly how he had done it, but he had caused her to pass out by doing that. She mentally added Azuma to her quickly growing list of people she hated.

"Ah, you're awake, Princess."

Lucy jumped and a small shriek escaped her lips as she turned to find Ultear sitting on the windowsill. It was pitch black outside, with only the white moon as a source of light. Lucy found the effect it had on the older woman quite unnerving, it made her seem ghostlike. Her tongue darted out to moisten her dry lips as she spoke,

"Good evening Ultear," she whispered politely. She may not have to like these people - in truth, she found them horribly terrifying - but she was smart enough to know that her life was in their hands. Getting on the wrong side of them would not do well. Ultear seemed to sense that this was the thought process going on in Lucy's mind, for she smirked at her polite tone.

"Would you like something to eat? Master informed me that you didn't each much at dinner, perhaps that is why you fainted?"

Lucy's eyes narrowed at the sly woman, "I did not _faint_. I was _attacked_."

Ultear tittered and waved a lazy hand in the air, "my my, what an active imagination you have Princess. Well, if you're not hungry, we may begin," she spoke in a condescending tone that Lucy did not appreciate in the slightest.

"B-begin what?" Lucy asked nervously, she had a feeling that whatever Ultear was going to say wasn't going to be good.

"Master would like me to get your measurements…for your dress."

"Dress?"

Ultear sighed as if Lucy was being purposely slow, "yes Princess. Your dress…your wedding dress."

Lucy visibly blanched at her words, and she fisted the blankets in her hands to try and stop herself from shaking. She felt sick, this could not be happening to her.

"No!" she cried, "I…I…" she gulped and tried to still her shakes, showing Ultear she was weak was not what she wanted to do, "I am not marrying that man!"

Ultear's smirk immediately dropped from her face, "oh…and what makes you think that?"

"I can't marry him! I just can't…he's…he's _evil_! How can I marry the man my parents tried to keep me from?"

Ultear shrugged, "that is not my problem. My problem is that I've got a whiny Princess who refuses to cooperate. I allowed you the chance to wake up so you may have a say in your dress, but rest assured _Princess_," she sneered, "I can just as easily do this with you unconscious."

Lucy's eyes widened and another shiver ran through her body at Ultear's sadistic words, it was clear that she was not a woman to mess with.

"Now, my Master requires your measurements so he order your dress. Are you going to comply, or do I have to use force?"

Lucy said nothing, and Ultear actually thought that she would have to be reduced to knocking the girl unconscious once more. But, after a few moments, Lucy slowly shuffled off the bed and stood up.

"I'll comply," she whispered dully. There was nothing she could do about her situation now. If she resisted, she did not doubt that they would find some way to inflict some sort of terrible pain upon her. She was well and truly stuck.

"Good. If you don't resist, everything will be better for you."

Lucy was close to her breaking point, she could feel the tears threatening to cascade down her cheeks, but she refused to show Ultear this side of her. She would allow herself to cry only once she was alone. She would not let these evil people think she was weak.

"When…when is the wedding?"

"Master wishes to do it as soon as possible. Though, he has to wait for the death of your father," Ultear grinned evilly as she heard Lucy's sharp intake of breath, "and since he sent Azuma on that task, I doubt it will be long. Why do you look so sad Princess?" she asked in a mocking tone that clearly held no emotion whatsoever.

"You're going to be a Queen soon, aren't you happy? I thought this was every young Princess' dream?"

With those sarcastic words, Lucy broke. She couldn't help it anymore. Ultear ignored Lucy's loud tears and violent shaking as she busied herself getting her measurements.

Several hours later, Lucy found herself alone in her room once again. She found it mildly ironic that now Ultear was out of her room, not one single tear would fall from her swollen eyes. It was as if she had cried all the tears she had.

"_He has to wait for the death of your father, and since he sent Azuma on that task, I doubt it will be long"_

When she had first heard those words, she could only feel sadness and guilt. Her father was going to be killed…and all because of her. But now, she added a wild anger to that mix of emotions. Just like when she had watched Natsu take a bad beating and she had wished she had power to help, she couldn't help but wish furiously that she had power now.

"Why was I so eager to be woken up?" she asked herself as she lay on her bed, trying to sort out her thoughts, "this world is nothing like I hoped it would be." So far, she had had her heart broken, she had been betrayed, essentially kidnapped, met a group of evil people, and was now being forced into marriage of perhaps the most evil of them all. This was not at all how she imagined life to be. Her eyes traitorously drifted towards the row of large windows that lined one of the walls of her room. They were all locked tightly shut with thick black iron bars, to ensure she didn't do exactly what she was thinking of. It was a pretty damn selfish thought of hers, she knew, but yet she couldn't help but think how easy it would be if she could just…jump.

She wasn't suicidal. Definitely not. She just wanted to escape. All her life, she'd been bound by rules or magic spells that kept her asleep, or evil old man wanting to marry her. She'd never had the chance to be free. That was all she wanted. When did she get the chance to live her own life?

The sound of a door being slammed distracted her from her depressive train of thought. Angry voices could be heard through the walls.

"_What do you mean they failed?"_

As quietly as possible, she slid off her bed and padded softly towards the wall where she could hear all the noise. Ultear had already informed her that her room was directly next to her own. Lucy supposed she had told her that in an attempt to instil even more fear into the young Princess' heart. But right now, that handy piece of information was serving very useful to her. As she pressed her ear against the window, she realised that she was gaining a very bad habit of eavesdropping on people. But, considering just who exactly these people were and what they had done to her, she felt no remorse.

"_We've just received word from the castle that the King survived the attack unscathed!"_

"_And what about Azuma and the others? Are they on their way back?"_

The two voices were female, and Lucy quickly identified the them as the voices of Meredy and Ultear.

"_Um…"_

"_Spit it out Meredy!" _Ultear's voice was sharp and harsh.

"_According to my sources, Azuma and Kain have both been captured."_

Lucy could make out the sound of Ultear taking in a sharp intake of breath.

"_And what about Caprico? Is _he _on his way back?"_

"_He has been sent back to the Celestial Realm."_

"_This isn't good."_

Lucy heard some rustling around in the room, and then light footsteps, as if Ultear was pacing the room trying to come up with an idea.

"_God damn it, how on Earth were all three of them beaten so easily? The Kings guards aren't well experienced fighters. They are nothing compared to us!"_

"_Um…my sources tell me that the Kings guards had help."_

In an attempt to hear more clearer, Lucy pressed her ear ever so slightly closer to the wall.

"_Help? From whom?_" Ultear sounded worried. Meredy hesitated before continuing,

"_Fairy Tail…"_

Lucy quickly covered her hand over her mouth to stifle her shocked gasp, just in case Ultear and Meredy heard and clued onto the fact that she was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"_Fairy Tail?" _Ultear continued, _"you…you don't think they're coming after the Princess, do you?"_

There was a silence, and then Ultear continued speaking so Lucy assumed that Meredy must have shook her head in response.

"_Nevertheless, I'm still worried. After we're done here, go back to Grimoire Heart and rustle up some men. I want guards outside the Princess' room day and night. Fairy Tail is known for their impulsiveness and I'm not taking any chances!"_

"_Yes Ultear-sama…but…but what do we tell Master? He's going to be very angry that Azuma and the others failed to kill the King."_

"_I know…and we will have to deal with his anger when it comes. But for now, focus on getting guards for the Princess. She's jumpy enough as it is."_

Once again, Lucy heard the soft padding of their footsteps and then the sound of a door being opened and closed again, signalling to Lucy that the two woman had left the room.

She quickly ran and threw herself onto her bed, just in case they decided to make a detour to her room and found her still pressed up against the wall.

"Thank goodness," she sighed in relief, "father is alive!" she didn't know how long that would last for, or what Hades would do to counteract this fail in his plan, but she was extremely grateful that her father had at least lived to see another day.

"Fairy Tail…" she murmured, thinking of the crazy and excitable Guild she had become fond of. She wondered why they had gone to aid her father, and allowed the silly notion that is was because of _her _that they had gone and that they _were _on their way to rescue her, to swim across her mind. But she quickly pushed it away. They were merely doing their civic duty, they didn't care about her. They had no reason to. They weren't going to rescue her. Nobody was.

* * *

_Faster. Faster. Faster. _Natsu propelled his fists behind him and ignited his fists on fire to give him some extra speed as he tore through yet another town. He ignored the angry shouts of the few townspeople on the street and continued pushing himself forwards. It was pretty likely that he'd get in trouble from the Council after all of this was done - after all, he'd accidentally uprooted the road on several occasions, and had set a few trees on fire - but that was something he'd just have to deal with. This was more important.

On his journey he'd had a lot of time to think and he knew one thing. He wasn't doing this for his Fairy Tail pride. No, he wasn't it because he wanted to. Not even that, he was doing it because he _needed _to. The thought of Lucy in another man's arms sending ripples of rage through his body. She had hurt him horribly, but he couldn't help it. She was a part of his life and he wasn't about to let her get snatched out of it so easily.

He ran at top speed for another hour or so before the great looming castle that housed Hades, and now Lucy, stood. It was surrounded by a mini forest, meant to keep intruders away, and he could see at least fifty men wandering around the castles edges. He figured that there would be more people inside the castle as well. Not to mention that girl he had fought against in his castle. And Hades was in there as well. He also didn't know exactly where Lucy was being kept. A rueful smile crossed his lips as he thought about all these things. In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to wait for Erza and the others to finish up before he jetted off. But he was Natsu, and he wasn't really known for thinking about things before he ran into them. Compulsiveness was more his thing.

"Right," he murmured to himself as he slowly began to emerge from his hiding place. For once he had a plan. Take down as many men outside the castle as possible without alerting attention to the others inside the castle. It wasn't the best of plans, and he was well aware that it would probably fail. But it was good enough for him.

_I'm coming Luce._

* * *

Hades leaned back in his comfortable leather chair and let out a contented sigh. He hadn't felt this good in years. Finally, after years of careful planning, everything was falling into place. Soon, Charles would be dead. He would marry the Princess, and then he would be King. As he sat in his chair, thinking of what his first new law would be once he became King, somebody rapped sharply on his door. Excitement ran through his body as he barked out,

"Enter!" this was it, the first day of the rest of his life.

Meredy took a deep breath before pushing open the large wooden door and entering her Master's office. She was fairly certain she was going to die.

"Yes Meredy, what is it? Has Azuma and the others taken care of the King?"

"Not…as such, Master," she squeaked out, feeling increasingly nervous with every second he stared at her. This really wasn't fair. She had tried to make Ultear come with her to tell Hades the bad news, but Ultear had "mysteriously" disappeared as they approached his door, and she had already began knocking by the time she had noticed that the older woman had disappeared.

"Oh?" Hades growled out in confusion, "then why are you in here? I asked not to be interrupted unless it was important, did I not?"

"I understand that, it's just…well…Azuma and Kain have been captured by the Royal Army. And Caprico has been sent back to the Celestial Realm!" she quickly spat out, finding that it became easier to say once she got going. She took a few fearful steps backwards as she noticed that Hades had begun to rise from his table, and he was shaking. This was definitely not a good sign.

"And _how_, Meredy," he asked calmly, though she could see he was working himself into a temper, "_how_, did three of my best men get captured by the Royal Army?" he could not fathom how that had happened. Azuma and Caprico were ridiculously strong. Even Kain, despite his foolish exterior, was a strong man. He hadn't picked them specifically to be a part of his Seven Kin of Purgatory for nothing!

Meredy shifted nervously under his furious gaze, "my…" she cleared her throat, "my sources tell me that the Army were assisted."

"By _whom_?"

"Fairy Tail, Master."

If Meredy were not such a talented Mage herself, she probably would have been crushed by the sudden amount of magical power that Hades began to exert at the mention of Fairy Tail.

"What?" he roared, slamming his fist so hard onto his desk that it began to splinter slightly, "Makarov's _brats_!"

"I should've gotten rid of that god damn Guild years ago!" he cursed angrily to himself, "Meredy!"

Meredy had been shuffling backwards closer and closer to the door but jumped when he called her name.

"Yes, Master?"

"The Princess, I want-"

"Ultear-sama has already organised some guards from Grimoire Heart to guard the Princess and the castle 24/7," Meredy informed him, pleased that she at least had some positive information to give Hades.

"You think they're going to attempt to rescue the Princess?" Hades asked sharply.

Meredy shook her head, "this is just a precaution Master. I doubt they would go so far as to attempt to rescue her. She no longer has anything to do with them. I believe they only aided the King as part of their duty. They are the closest Guild to his castle after all."

It seems as if the fates were against her however. As soon as she finished her confident speech that Fairy Tail were most definitely not going to attempt to rescue the Princess, they heard an extremely loud crash resounding through the castle. Followed by several roars of agony.

"Meredy…what is going on out there?"

"I'm…I'm not sure. I'm sure it's a completely isolated and unrelated incident-"

"_WHERE IS LUCY?" _they heard the angry roar of a young man, and Meredy knew that if looks could kill, she would have been dead meat. Hades was staring at her as if he wanted to tear her limb from limb.

"Meredy," he hissed, "I want you, Ultear, Rustyrose and Zancrow to defeat those Fairy scum. Do you hear me? I will not tolerate failure. And don't, _don't_, let them get the Princess!"

"Understood!" Meredy yelped before she scurried away from his presence and off to find the other three remaining members of the Seven Kin.

Meredy found Ultear and Zancrow together as she ran around the castle. They were both standing by a window, watching a pink haired man plough through the guards they had brought from Grimoire Heart.

"Is he from Fairy Tail?" Meredy asked as they stood by the window.

"We believe so."

"Where's the rest?" Meredy stood on her tiptoes and strained to see if there was more fighting going on that her small frame was unable to see.

"It's just him."

Meredy's brow furrowed in confusion as she stared at the man, "just _him_? What does he expect to do alone?"

"He's a Fairy Tail Mage, I've heard they don't know when to give up," Ultear smirked as she turned from the window.

"Zancrow!" she called out to the man, "go get the Princess and take her away from here. It is obvious that this is his rescue attempt," her lips curled into a condescending sneer, "however pitiful it may be. I don't want to risk any chance of him touching the Princess."

"Why do I have to be on babysitting duty?" Zancrow snarled, "I wanna fight!"

Ultear ignored his whining, "take the Princess and don't let any harm come to her. Do not kill her Zancrow!" she added sharply, knowing only to well that Zancrow often got too caught up in the moment. Zancrow snarled at her once more before leaving the room muttering something like, _"damn bitch_."

"Shall I get Rustyrose, Ultear-sama?"

Ultear shook her head, "there's no need to interrupt Rustyrose. There is only one man, you and I will be enough for him. Come, let's greet our guest."

* * *

He thought his plan had worked pretty well so far. The fifty or so guards who had been guarding the outskirts of the castle had been rather easy to defeat. It was actually pretty embarrassing as they barely put up any sort of fight. From their reactions, he gathered that a lot of them, if not all, had been forced into standing outside the castle. It was clear that they didn't really want to be there, which explained why they all scampered away so fast after he shot a fireball towards them.

This had gotten him easily into the castle, but that was where he was met with difficulty. The lackeys in the large castle were still not incredibly strong, but they were a lot smarter than the ones outside and it embarrassed him to admit it, but it did take him a while to defeat them.

Navigating himself around the castle whilst trying to avoid more guards was also difficult. It was no secret that Natsu wasn't known for his stealth. Normally he didn't give much care to things like that, but he understood that it was important now.

He walked quietly through the castle for at least an hour, and met no other signs of life apart from the odd guard who he knocked out quickly with one punch. He was starting to wonder if he had been tricked and that this wasn't even the right castle when he emerged into a large hall. It was easily as big as the hall he had in the castle with Lucy, if not bigger. And, standing at the top of a staircase stood two familiar faces. He scowled as he came closer to them, it was the two women who had been there to take Lucy from his castle. His eyes narrowed even more as the pink haired girl who had defeated him had the nerve to smirk cockily at him.

"Natsu Dragneel…that is your name, isn't it?" Ultear asked politely, as if she they weren't about to have a fight.

"What have you done to Lucy?" Natsu ignored her question and instead growled out his own.

"We've done nothing to her. She is perfectly safe. I think, a better question would be to ask what are _you _doing here? You have no business traipsing around and destroying our home the way you have been!"

Natsu laughed at her attempt to play innocent, "I'm here to get Lucy back!"

Ultear put a hand on Meredy's shoulder and pushed her forward lightly, "without this sounding horribly cliché," she said, "but you'll have to get through us first."

Meredy took that as her cue to start fighting. The small girl raised her hands into the air again, and like the first time Natsu saw this technique, several pointed daggers appeared in the air above her. Natsu smirked as he watched her send the daggers flying towards him. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Instead of trying to block the attack with his fire, he dodged it quickly and began running down the corridor. Meredy was a long range fighter, whilst he preferred close range...it would be difficult to try and beat her now. Especially when he was pressed for time.

He could hear both her and Ultear quickly following him down the corridor. He looked left and right and as he ran, looking for a good hiding place.

"Ahah!" he huffed triumphantly as he turned a corner and noticed a small stairway with a little nook underneath it. He glanced behind him and saw that Ultear and Meredy hadn't made it to this corner yet, and would therefore not see him ducking in there.

He ducked into the hiding place and held his breath, hoping the that two women would walk straight by him. He was wasting time with this girl, he needed to get to Lucy.

"Come out Mr Dragon Boy," Meredy's childlike voice rang out, making it clear that she was still following him. From his hiding place he could watched her tiny feet, followed by Ultear's larger ones walking past him and then away from him down the corridor. He smirked as he emerged from his hiding place, feeling confident that he had tricked the young girl.

"Shit!" he growled as it became very clear to himself that he hadn't tricked her. She had tricked him. She was standing to his right, and directly in front of him he was face to face with several of her blades. He had walked right into her trap.

"Goodbye," she said curtly, before drawing her arm downwards and making the blade copy her motion.

_I'm sorry, Luce_…

"ICE MAKE….SHIELD!"

Natsu's eyes widened in shock as he watched a large shield of Ice erupt itself in front of him. The blade continued to cut through the ice, but at a slower speed and Natsu watched in amazement as the Ice crawled up the side of the blade and fixed it into place by freezing it.

"Oi, I'm sick of saving your ass," Gray grumbled, behind him stood Erza and Gajeel, both standing in positions getting ready to fight.

"Who told you I needed saving?"

Natsu and Gray looked ready to get into a full blown fight, but luckily Erza was there to stop their foolish behaviour.

"You!" she barked and pointed her own sword towards Ultear, "where is the Princess?

"Aah that's right!" Natsu suddenly brightened up as he stood up, walked over to Gray and slapped him jovially on the shoulder, "I'll leave these two to you guys!"

"And where the hell are you going?" Gajeel roared angrily, he didn't mind a good fight but if Natsu was retreating, it meant that these guys were trouble.

"I've gotta save Lucy!" he yelled as he dashed down the corridor, yelling Lucy's name as if he expected her to respond. Meredy took a step forwards, and Erza raised her sword in the air. But it appeared that she didn't need to, for Ultear placed a reassuring arm on her shoulder and murmured,

"Leave him. Zancrow will deal with him. We have new enemies now."

Erza, Gray and Gajeel each got into their respective fighting positions, each of them thinking the same thing,

_I'm going to kill Natsu._

* * *

The sounds of heavy footsteps, pained screaming, loud bangs, and what felt like the shaking of the castle was what Lucy awoke to that night. Before she had the chance to register what was going on, her bedroom door was blown open and a young man she had never before strode into her room. She gulped and naively clutched her blankets closer to her chest as she watching him stride confidently to her bed. There was only one word she could think of to describe this man, and that was _creepy_. He had long, wild untamed hair that flew in every direction on his head, as if it had never seen a comb in his life. His eyes were large, wild, and his pupils seemed to be permanently dilated, giving him the look of a madman. Even his fingers were twitching as he walked, as if it were taking him a lot of effort not to go wild in front of her.

"Get out of bed," he ordered, his voice was rather high pitched and she could sense the madness that lay hidden underneath it. She didn't even hesitate as she jumped out of bed, not wanting to get on his bad side.

"W-who…who are you?" she asked quietly, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. Whilst she was still scared of Ultear and Meredy, she was fairly certain that neither of the two would dare inflict any permanent bodily damage to her, but unfortunately she could not say the same for this man.

"The name's Zancrow. No more questions," he said briskly, leaning forward and grabbing hold of her upper arm firmly.

Zancrow ignored her startled cry and weak protests and he began to forcibly drag her out of her room.

"Where are you taking me!" she cried as she attempted to tug her arm away from his strong grasp.

"I said no more questions," he snarled, not even bothering to look at her as they made their way through the castle. Lucy opened her mouth to argue with him, but her complaints fell away on her lips as she took in the damage that was surrounding her. Bodies were dotted around the corridors, the walls were peeling and crumbling away, and if she strained hard enough she was almost certain that she could hear the tell tale sounds of a fight ensuing on the floors above her.

"What happened here?" she asked aloud. She had been merely asking the question to herself, but Zancrow heard. For the first time since she had met him, a gleeful smile spread across his lips. But it did nothing to dispel her fears of the man, it only served to make them worse. His smile made him look positively insane.

"This? This was me," he pointed towards the crumbling walls and the bodies that lined the floor, and Lucy was sure she heard traces of pride in his voice at the destruction he had caused, "idiots didn't get out my way fast enough," he snorted and maniacal laughter escaped his lips.

Lucy said nothing and kept her head down. She was fairly certain that the bodies of the injured people on the floor were his comrades, and if he could do that to people on the same side as him she didn't want to think about what he could do to her.

"_LUCY!"_

She froze and whirled around in confusion, she was sure she had just heard her name being yelled out. And the voice it belonged to sounded awfully familiar.

"Ah shit, the Fairy brats almost here hurry up!" Zancrow tugged at her arm so hard, she was sure he had dislocated it slightly, "and shut up!" he snarled as a loud cry of pain fell from her lips.

"_LUCY!"_

There it was again, and she was sure she wasn't imagining it this time.

"N-Natsu?"

"I thought I told you to _shut up_!" Zancrow roared, making more noise than she had done. Before she could do anything, a searing pain was shot through the arm he was holding onto and as she looked down, she could see smoke rising from it.

"P-please…" she whimpered, trying her best to pull her arm away from him, "please…you're hurting me!"

"_LUCY? IS THAT YOU?"_

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Zancrow bellowed, sending more waves of searing pain through her arm. She had been right when she assumed he wasn't mentally stable. She shrieked in agony and somehow managed to wrench her arm from his grasp. What she saw made her feel sick. He had somehow burned the top layer of skin away from her arm, leaving it a sickly red colour. Whimpering in pain she backed into the wall and cradled her arm. She had never felt such pain before, it felt as if she was on fire underneath her skin, and she began scratching at in relentlessly to try and put out the flames.

"_LUCY?"_

"Natsu!" she howled, ignoring the look of fury that Zancrow was now giving her, "Natsu…I'm here! I'm he-" a pain she had never felt before suddenly swept over her body. It was so painful, she couldn't even scream. Her eyes widened in shock and agony as she realised that she was slowly being engulfed in flames. Black flames. They weren't burning her, or melting away her skin like flames should do, instead it was as if they were slowly eating away at her skin, trying to find the most painful way to reduce her to nothingness.

"P-please!" she sobbed, trying desperately to bat the flames away, "please…I…I can't take this…please…"

She should've known there would be no use trying to negotiate with a madman. His maniacal smile only increased as he stared at her, as if watching her suffer was quite possibly the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Ultear said I'm not allowed to kill you," he growled, sounding upset at that fact, "but she didn't say nothing about a little bit of torture…"

"Why?" she hissed, clutching at her stomach, the place that was now bearing the brute force of the pain, "why are…are you doing this to me?"

Zancrow merely shrugged before his grin widened, "fun," he said simply.

Her vision was going blurry, the pain was becoming too much for her to take now.

"_What are you doing to her?"_

Lucy blinked wildly and tried to turn her head. That voice, it sounded so familiar, and it sounded so close. As if he were standing a mere few feet away from her.

"Natsu!" she cried as she saw him. He was definitely there, she wasn't imagining it. She did wonder if she was imagining the look of pure hatred in his eyes though, she never thought it was possible for Natsu to have so much hatred for one person.

"Let her go," he said calmly, but she could detect the hints of his rage seeping through.

Zancrow narrowed his eyes at their little intruder, "no."

Natsu took a step forward and clenched his fists tightly, fire began pooling up behind him as he walked.

"Let her go," he said again in the same eerily calm tone as before.

Zancrow smirked and bared his pointed teeth at Natsu, "no," he said once more and this time he flicked a finger towards Lucy and the pain increased tenfold.

"S-STOP! STOP IT!" she begged, writhing in agony as the pain travelled up her spine, it felt as if she had no skin left, "please…" she turned to Natsu and stared directly into his eyes, "please…help me."

And that was all he needed to hear. With a feral growl, Natsu lunged forward and pounced on top of Zancrow. Almost the second Zancrow went down, Lucy felt the pain beginning to subside, but she had no time to celebrate for Natsu was suddenly sent flying across the corridor.

"Are you going to beat me, hm Dragon?" Zancrow asked as he stood up, a mad burst of laughter erupted from his lips, "are you going to beat me? Me who is closest to God?"

Lucy pulled herself further into the shadows, not wanting to attract his attention again. He clearly had forgotten all about her. From his end of the corridor, Natsu shakily stood up. A small trail of blood was trickling from his busted lip, but he wiped it away and crouched low again.

"You hurt Lucy," he growled, "and I will never…_never_…forgive you for that."

Lucy gasped as she watched both Natsu and Zancrow blow out flames from each of their mouths. Natsu's familiar bright orange flames met Zancrow's dark black flames in the middle of the corridor, and caused a large explosion where they met. A large hole was blown in both of the walls on either side of the corridor, but the two men appeared not to notice, for they were now running at each other anger.

"Natsu!" she cried as she watched Natsu take a black flamed fuelled kick to his head that sent him reeling backwards. Though apparently it didn't do much damage, for Natsu immediately got up again and sent a gust of fire into Zancrow.

Whilst Natsu was panting with fatigue, Lucy could only hear crazy laughter from Zancrow, as if this were all just one big game for him. And it seemed like it was, for he was barely breaking a sweat as he ducked and dodged all of Natsu's attacks, before landing even more powerful ones onto the pink haired boy.

"You're just not on my level!" Zancrow boasted proudly as he sent out a wisp of his black flame. It snaked down the corridor and wrapped itself around Natsu's ankle. From his scream of pain, Lucy knew he was being subjected to the same sort of torture she went through earlier. She watched in horror as the black flame began to quickly creep up Natsu body. As much as he struggled to free himself from it, it wasn't doing any good and within a few moments he had been completely engulfed in the flame.

"Natsu!" she screamed as she heard his muffled bellows of pain from inside the black flame. The flames began to deflate in size and Natsu's yells got louder, almost as if the flames were squashing him down further and further.

"Please…Natsu," she begged, staring with tear stained eyes at the black flames, "please…"

As she sat there, cowering in the shadows she couldn't help but think this was awfully familiar. Here Natsu was, risking his life to save her, and all she could do was repeat his name a few times.

_I'm tired of being the damsel in distress_.

Before she even fully formulated a plan, she stood up as quietly as possible, trying to ignore the light pain she could still feel. She had one chance at this, and one chance only. She watched Zancrow laughing crazily at Natsu's form and narrowed her eyes. She would no longer be the damsel in distress. She could help too. With a loud shriek of anger, she lunged forward a shoved Zancrow as hard as she possibly could. Which, in all fairness, wasn't very far at all. He only moved a few inches, but it was enough. The impact of Lucy colliding into him had distracted him away from Natsu, if only for a few seconds, and it had the desired effect. Lucy watched in relief as the black flames that surrounded him suddenly disappeared. It seemed that Zancrow wasn't able to manipulate his flames properly if he wasn't concentrating 100%.

However, her triumphant victory was short lived as she realised that Zancrow was turning his fury back on her.

"You _bitch_," he hissed, taking a step towards her, "Ultear says I can't kill you," he snorted with laughter, "but what Ultear doesn't know won't hurt her!"

Lucy gulped and squeezed her eyes tightly shut as Zancrow raised a large hand in the air, causing the black flame to follow it. She braced herself for the burning pain of his flames, but it didn't come. Instead she felt a comforting warmth and heard a low growl of frustration that sounded like it came from Zancrow. Slowly, she peeked her eyes open and gasp. She found herself engulfed in flames, bright orange flames.

They were dancing around her body gently and from the tiny gaps in the flames, she could see Zancrow on the other side sending jabs of black flames at her. But they weren't going through, the orange flames were protecting her. She stuck a tentative hand outwards and gasped in amazement as she touched the flames and they did not burn her. Instead, the flames felt strangely cool. She wondered if perhaps she had died and this was all an illusion. Flames were not supposed to be cool, she knew that for definite.

"You…"

She turned to her right and saw Natsu stalking towards Zancrow. Blood was steadily dripping down his head and fists as he walked, but he appeared to ignore it.

"Will…"

Bright orange flames began to swirl rapidly around his body as he approached Zancrow. Lucy could feel his magical power rising with every step he took.

"Never…"

Zancrow lifted his hand into the air and erupted a barrier of his black flames in the middle of the corridor, but Natsu's own flames lashed out and struck the black flames down as if they were nothing.

"Hurt…"

Zancrow took a step backwards which shocked Lucy. Was he really that scared? Was Natsu's pure fury really that terrifying?

"Lucy…"

Her eyes widened as he mentioned her name and his flames began to get bigger and wilder, as if they had a mind of their own and were itching to attack.

"_Again_…"

She covered her eyes as the corridor was suddenly engulfed in a brilliant orange flame, almost as if Natsu himself had exploded. It was terrifying but strangely exhilarating. Before she reflexively shut her eyes, she got a glimpse of what Natsu had looked like before his fire exploded. His hair was blowing wildly in the wind caused by his flames. The flames danced on the walls, making his shadow look like he had wings. He looked like a dragon.

A roar of pain belonging to Zancrow split through the corridor and suddenly everything went dark. The barrier of flames that had been protecting her fell down and the flames which had been surrounding Natsu fell away as well. As her eyes got adjusted to the sudden change in light levels she watched as Zancrow's bruised and burned body fell to the ground. She couldn't help but feel happy at his defeat. Once she was sure Zancrow wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon, she turned her attention to Natsu, who was staring at her intently.

"Are you okay?" he asked, taking a step forward, but seemed to think better of it and kept standing he was.

She nodded, "thank you…"

"Good," Natsu gave her a half hearted grin and began to sway violently on the spot, "now…you should probably get out of here before someone else comes."

"Nat-"

She winced as Natsu's unconscious body hit the heavily. She took three quick strides towards him and lowered herself down so she could see his face. Against her better judgement, she tenderly brushed his damp hair away from his face,

"I'm not going anywhere without you," she whispered quietly.

* * *

**A/N: **HELLO! So, yup, as you can see things are getting heated. I'm actually really sad to say that this story is almost finished ;_; Did I explain Zancrow's power properly, because I wasn't 100% sure how it actually worked, so it might be a tad inaccurate. Oh well, keep on reviewing guys!


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary: **Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

**A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

The Dragon's Ward

**Chapter 18**

Hades sat in his study and watched as the three Fairy Tail Mages attempted to warn off the attacks coming from Meredy and Ultear. He had eyes all around his castle and not a single thing happened that he was not aware of. To his utter disgust, he knew that Zancrow had been defeated by Natsu and Lucy was now attempting to drag Natsu's unconscious body to safety. That only bothered him a little bit, he knew she wouldn't get very far and he would be able to stop her with ease. No, the thing that bothered him was the three Fairy Tail Mages. They were very strong, all three of them, and he didn't doubt that with enough perseverance they would defeat both Meredy and Ultear. He knew Fairy Tail Mages, they didn't give up easily, and, if his assumptions were correct, they had already sent for backup. That meant more of those damn Fairies would be in his castle, wreaking havoc soon enough. This also brought the possibility that Makarov might dare to come with them. Fairies he could deal with easily, but Makarov was a whole other level. Even he was not sure how he would fare against the Master of Fairy Tail. With a growl of annoyance, he pushed himself away from his desk and began to make his way towards his door. It became clear to him that he would need to use his trump card to win this battle.

_Rustyrose_, he thought with a sadistic grin. Not even those damn Fairies would be able to win against him. Or so he hoped.

* * *

His fingers and hands were beginning to feel the pain of all the ice he was being forced to use. This had never happened to him before, but he took it in his stride. He ignored the searing pain he felt every time he produced a shield with his hands and had it ripped from his skin by Meredy's blades. Along with that, he could feel his energy and his magical power rapidly depleting. This had been his second big battle of the day, and his body wasn't used to such strenuous activities. Because of this, his movements were becoming slow and sloppy, and his ice had begun to break upon getting hit once my one of Meredy's attacks.

"You are becoming tired," Meredy taunted with a small smirk on her face as she watched Gray panting for breath, "let me end this now, to put you out of your misery."

"Shut up!" Gray snarled, quickly erupting an ice shield to block her blades once more. He was a Fairy Tail Mage for God's sake. If he died in battle, he wanted to die knowing he gave it his all, not that he gave up and was killed out of mercy. That sort of death would do nothing but taint the great Fairy Tail name, and he would never do that.

"Foolish," Meredy replied calmly as she sent another wave of blades towards Gray, "very foolish."

.

.

"RE-EQUIP!" Erza yelled for perhaps the fiftieth time. This time she changed into her fire protective armour and jumped in front of Gajeel as Ultear sent another explosion their way.

"Thanks," Gajeel grunted, he had just finished shielding Erza from another attack, and they both knew it wouldn't have been possible for him to shield against that one. They were both feeling the fatigue of fighting two battles in the space of a few short hours, but they pushed it away. They were Fairy Tail Mages and they would not give up so easily.

"Gajeel, I have an idea," Erza revealed to him. Throughout the battle, she had not only been attacking Ultear, but trying to find her weaknesses as well. TO her fury, she had found no weaknesses with Ultear's attacks, but only weaknesses with her own. Her weapons were powerful enough to cause damage to Ultear, but once Ultear dodged them, there was nothing she could do about it. And that was how she formulated her next plan.

"What is it?" Gajeel asked as he dodged yet another powerful explosion. How on earth Ultear was able to produce them so quickly was beyond him.

"Just trust me. Transform your legs into a drill!" she ordered. Gajeel nodded without thinking, he trusted Erza with his life. Hell, he trusted everyone in Fairy Tail with his life. Within seconds he had transformed his legs into a whirring drill.

"RE-EQUIP!" Erza transformed her body into the strongest armour she possessed. With ease, she picked Gajeel up and aimed his legs directly at Ultear.

"When I say so, transform your arms," she whispered before taking a step backwards and then throwing Gajeel at Ultear with all her might. As expected, Ultear easily dodged the attack.

"NOW!" Erza bellowed. Immediately, the Gajeel drill hit the wall, but instead of getting stuck in it, he ricocheted off it and transformed his arms in large iron drills. Ultear hadn't been expecting this, and her eyes widened in shock as the Gajeel drill came soaring towards her. She attempted to dodged but this time she just wasn't fast enough and one of his arm drills pierced through her own arm and sent her flying across the room.

"Good job!" Erza commended her partner as he landed back on the ground with her. Their attack hadn't been enough to do any permanent damage to Ultear, but it had been enough to slow her down, and that was all they needed.

"Well, well, well," Ultear sneered as she emerged from the rubble she had created, a small stream of blood tricked down her face, and a lot more fell from the deep gash Gajeel had left in her arm, "it seems I'll have to go all out to beat you two."

.

.

Gray groaned as he dodged yet another attack. It was really becoming too much for him now, he could feel his body begging to collapse, and his vision was becoming blurry. On the other end of the room he could see Erza and Gajeel fighting gallantly, but he knew that they must have been just as tired as he was. This was too much for them. He let out a roar of pain and one of Meredy's swords pierced him cleanly in the lower stomach area. He hadn't even noticed that she had sent out more blades.

"It is over," Meredy's calm voice spoke out and Gray heard the tell tale sounds of her small feet padding towards him. He tried to move, but her sword made every tiny movement he made feel as if he was being impaled by a thousand swords instead of just the one.

"Your death will be a quick one," Meredy commented, raising just one hand in the air this time to produce one large, thin and sharp blade. She plucked it from the air and swung it around in her hand, a sadistic grin falling across her face.

_Shit, shit, shit_, Gray groaned trying in vain to move from his spot on the floor.

"Resistance is futile. Just stay still," Meredy rose her sword above her head and swung it down over his body. Instead of feeling the searing pain of feeling your body being sliced in half, Gray simply felt…wet?

"Juvia will not allow you to harm Gray-sama!"

Gray looked up to find Juvia standing next to him. He then looked around to find that his whole body had been coated in a strange form of extremely thick water. He raised a heavy hand and poked at the water, and found that it was completely solid and he could breathe easily in it. It was as if Juvia had shielded him with this strange water. Meredy and Juvia both snarled angrily at each other.

_Wait…Juvia? _Gray realised that if Juvia were here, that meant, "reinforcements!" he yelled happily, feeling his energy slowly seeping back into him now that he knew his friends were here to give them some aid.

Fairy Tail Guild members were quickly filling up the large hall, some of them ran to aid Gajeel and Erza right away, whilst the others stood in the middle, glaring at something that Gray could not see.

"What a coincidence, ours have also arrived," Meredy informed Gray. As much as he could without feeling the pain from the sword in his chest, he sat up and stared at the scene before him. Hundreds of men and women stood in front of them. In front of the ominous looking group, stood a tall man he had never seen before, but he assumed that he was extremely strong due to the magical power he could feel emanating from them both.

"Fairy Tail!" he boomed, he was quite tall and had his hair pulled into a intricate quiff, he reminded a lot of people as a sort of film star, "meet the power of Grimoire Heart. This will be the last thing you ever see," he then turned to the men and women standing behind him, "_attack_!"

With a roar, the members of Grimoire Heart began running forward, shooting magic wherever they felt. With an equally loud roar - if not louder - the members of Fairy Tail began running forward. Grimoire Heart were foolish if they thought Fairy Tail would be easy to defeat.

"Juvia-san!"

Gray watched in shock as Wendy ran up to her.

"I'll help you-"

Juvia stuck out a hand, stopping Wendy in her tracks.

"No, Juvia-sama can beat her on her own. Wendy-san needs to heal Gray-sama."

Hearing the angry tone in Juvia's voice, Wendy didn't even bother argue. Instead she dropped to the ground and pushed a hand against the strange water that coated Gray. Immediately the water transformed in shape and engulfed Wendy in it as well.

"Sorry Gray-san, this may hurt," Wendy apologised as she grabbed onto the sword and in one sharp tug, pulled it out of his stomach. She was right, it did hurt quite a bit, he had bigger things to worry about than his own pain.

"Wendy…we have to hurry," Gray said as he watched Wendy get to work healing his injury, "Juvia's using way too much magic energy to protect us right now," his eyes widened in fear as he watched Juvia and Meredy attack each other. Juvia was faring pretty well right now, but he knew that wouldn't last as long as she was protecting him.

"Understood!" Wendy cried, pouring more of her healing magic into the heavily bleeding wound.

.

.

"ERZA!"

Erza allowed herself to be distracted from the battle for a moment as she looked for the commanding voice that was calling her name.

"Master?"

The small master of Fairy Tail was currently running as fast as his tiny legs would allow,

"I'm going to find Hades, I trust you all to finish up here, understood?"

"Understood!"

She watched with pride as her Master ran to find the enemy. If he was trying his best, then she would do. They all would.

* * *

She could feel the magical power that was being used below her, and it made her scared. If felt as if there was a small scale war happening down there. Dragging Natsu through the castle had taken up a lot of her own energy and she had ended up kicking open a door and pulling them both inside the room. It turned out to be a bedroom, though whose it was she had no idea, but she decided it was a safe place for them to hide. It kept them away from the battle, and had a multitude of hiding places in case anyone came looking for them.

Somehow she managed to tug Natsu up onto the bed and let him rest on there. She was glad to see that he was still breathing, though even though he was unconscious he wore a pained expression on his face which told her that he was still in a lot of pain.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered as she ran her hand through his hair, trying to rid it of the blood and rubble that it was coated in, "I never meant for anything like this to happen…"

A loud explosion made her jump, and she hoped that nobody she loved had been injured. She thought back to the power she had seen from just Zancrow alone, and she couldn't help but doubt her friends. Were they really strong enough to beat these people?

Without warning, Natsu let out a strained grunt of pain. She looked down at him quickly and saw that he was still unconscious, but it was as if he could sense her doubt.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, grabbing hold of his hand and squeezing it tightly, "I'm sorry for doubting them."

_They'll be fine_, she told herself, _they will definitely win._

* * *

"SMOKE!" Levy quickly wrote with her magical pen and almost immediately, the distance between her and her enemy was shrouded in a thick smoke that only she was able to see through. All around her, her comrades were battling against the enemy.

"FIRE!" she yelled, sending a wave of fire towards her attacker. It had the intended effect. She watched in happiness as her attacker was blown backwards with the power of her fire. It was nothing on the level of Natsu's fire, but it was enough.

"What have we got here?"

She felt her blood run cold as a new attackers stood in front of her. She didn't even need to look at him to know he was powerful, she could practically taste the magical power he possessed floating in the air.

"You are the embodiment of _fairy_, aren't you?" he chuckled as he watched her eyes widen in fear as she tried to take a step backwards.

"Ah, ah, ah," he shook a condescending finger at her before saying, "_Shukkoko no Tsurugi_," in a flash his right arm transformed itself in a thick black claw. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it or not, but she was sure she could sense blood lust emanating from the claw itself.

"W-what are you?" she stuttered, trying to step backwards but found herself being pushed forward by the others that were battling in the vicinity.

"Rustyrose, member of Seven Kin of Purgatory. You can call me, the King of the Underworld," Rustyrose shot her a malicious grin before pouncing. She barely had time to duck before his clawed up descended upon her face. Because she managed to twist out of the way, it only caught her face, but the shock of it scraping along her cheek sent her reeling backwards. She could feel that he had torn skin, and she could taste the blood that was steadily dripping into her mouth. Her head was spinning as she tried to recollect herself. That claw was heavy and hard, if it hit her again she was pretty sure she would be knocked out for the count.

"Ready for round two little fairy?" Rustyrose cooed, "I won't be so nice this time."

She narrowed her eyes and crouched down low, he was making fun of her. He was taunting her abilities, and she would not allow that.

"DAGGERS!" she yelled and scribbled the word in front of her, causing a hundred small daggers to erupt from thin air. She swung her arm down and sent the daggers flying towards him.

"Ha!" she giggled, thinking that she had won, but Rustyrose merely swiped his clawed up across the air and immediately the daggers fell to the floor.

"Silly fairy," he said as he stalked closer to her, "you'll need to do better then that to beat _me_."

She only had time to squeak in fear before Rustyrose rushed towards her. He used the back of his black claw to wrap itself around Levy's back, pick her up, and then slam her into the opposite wall. Well, that was his plan. Instead of smashing into the wall and feeling her bones snap as she fell, she found herself colliding with something hard and yet still comforting at the same time.

"Oi!" a familiar voice growled out as she was set back down on the floor. She quickly surveyed her body and found that she hadn't been injured any further than the cut on her face. She looked up to stare at her saviour,

"You don't touch my bookworm!" Gajeel roared out, his arm transforming into a pointed iron blade that looked even more dangerous than Rustyrose's claw.

"Gajeel! But what about Erza?" Levy turned to where Erza and Loki were still fighting against Ultear.

"They can handle it. I need to kick this guys ass," he growled as he stalked forward, "oi, bookworm," he called over his shoulder.

"Y-yeah?"

"Stay outta trouble."

She nodded in agreement, understanding exactly what he was saying. He wasn't telling her to run and hide. No, Gajeel recognised that she was a Fairy Tail Mage and would never do something as cowardly as that. He was simply telling her to be careful.

"I will!" she cried before dashing back into the throng of fighters, _you better stay safe though._

Rustyrose smirked as he stared at the fury that was clearly written all across Gajeel's face.

"Touched a nerve have I?" Rustyrose scorned him, raising his clawed hand into the air in an attempt to intimidate Gajeel. It didn't work. There were very few things that had the ability to intimidate the iron dragon slayer, Erza was one of these things. Rustyrose was not.

"I don't care what else you do," Gajeel growled, getting ready to pounce, "but you _don't _touch her!" Without warning he pounced and flew across the air. Rustyrose was shocked by his speed, and if it hadn't been for the use of his claw, he probably wouldn't have been able to block the attack.

_This would be an interesting fight._

_._

_._

"Quickly Wendy!" Gray urged her on as he watch Juvia narrowly dodge and attack from Meredy. Wendy nodded and sent a large surge of energy into Gray's abdomen.

"And…" she ran her fingers along his abdomen and he felt a strange pulling sensation, as if she were using her fingers to give him stitches, "you're healed!"

As soon as she said those words, the water shield they had been encased in fell down and slithered it's way back to Juvia's body.

"Thank you Wendy-san for healing Gray-sama!" Juvia called as she shot a beam of water at Meredy who had not been expecting it, it slapped her directly in the gut and sent her reeling backwards slightly, "I can now fight to my full potential!"

"I'm helping," Gray said tersely as he stood up and took off his pants in preparation for battle.

"Me too!" Wendy piped up, getting ready to fight. Gray shook his head,

"Wendy, I need you to find Natsu for me. I haven't heard him in a while…and…"

"Got it!" Wendy chirped, knowing that Gray didn't often like to voice his concern about his friend, he preferred to talk with his fists.

"Be careful!" she yelled as she entered the throng of fighting Guild members, leaving Juvia and Gray to fight together against Meredy.

"Gray-sama doesn't have to stay," Juvia said quietly, knowing that this really wasn't the time to start fangirling over that fact that Gray was helping her, but she couldn't help herself. To her surprise, Gray grab onto her hand and laced his fingers with her own.

_Be still my heart! _Juvia squeaked to herself as she felt his strangely warm fingers entwine with her own.

"Don't think I'd ever leave you, Juvia," he mumbled, not at all comfortable with these romantic feelings, "you're…an important person to me, and I'm not leaving you alone."

To Juvia, Gray may as well have admitted that he loved her. She was ecstatic, but she hid it well, knowing that once they defeated the enemy they would have plenty of time to talk.

Meredy scowled evilly at her two enemies, _this would be an interesting fight._

_._

_._

Erza and Loki both narrowly dodged Ultear's next trick which caused the ground below them to erupt in explosive spikes. All around them they could see their Guild mates fighting against the Grimoire Heart Guild. They had already lost Gajeel as he had gone to rescue Levy, but they found that they were faring pretty well without him. Ultear's movements no longer seemed excruciatingly fast, either she was getting slower or they were simply getting used to her speed. They had even managed to land several hits on her now. With Erza's battle prowess and cunning and Loki's brute strength, they made a formidable team against Ultear. It was an interesting fight.

* * *

_Crap_! Lucy thought in fear as she heard the sound of footsteps running up and down the corridor. She heard several doors being opened quickly and then slammed shut, it was obvious that whoever was doing it was looking for someone. And that someone was probably her. She wasn't stupid, with Natsu unconscious she knew she had next to no chance against whoever it was attacking her.

She whimpered as the door handle suddenly lowered, telling her that someone was about to enter the room. She could always hide, but she was not about to leave Natsu alone on the bed. He would be an easy target and she didn't doubt that he would be killed easily.

"Natsu-san?"

Lucy gasped as a small girl entered the room. Lucy recognised her, they had met on several occasions.

"Wendy?" she asked uncertainly, half wondering if this were a trick of the enemy.

"Lucy-san!" Wendy cried happily as she ran further into the room, "and…oh…Natsu-san!" she quickly ran over to the bed and surveyed his wounds.

"Oh dear," she mumbled, lifting her hands up to create a green glow over his chest, "he's got a lot of internal bruising, this could take some time…"

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "I'm sorry Wendy, but what are you doing? How did you even find us? What's going on down there?"

Not taking her eyes off Natsu, Wendy began to explain to Lucy the situation, "Natsu-san has a very distinct scent, for a fellow Dragon Slayer, he's very easy to find" she explained to Lucy, "everyone's fighting their hardest down there!" she finished explaining with a hint of pride in her voice, "and I promised to fight my hardest as well…although," she giggled sheepishly, "I don't think I'd be much help."

"Why's that?"

Wendy nodded towards Natsu body, which was steadily gaining his colour back, "I'm…I'm not that great at fighting, I prefer to heal."

"Oh," was all Lucy could say as she watched Wendy continue her work on Natsu. She couldn't help but feel extremely jealous that even Wendy, a girl who was half her age and size, could do more to help Natsu than she could. All she could do was cause him trouble and pain.

"Lucy-san…you're crying…"

Lucy quickly wiped away her tears and shot Wendy a bright smile, "a-ah, was I? I'm just a bit tired…that's all!"

Wendy frowned at her, she didn't know Lucy as well as some of the other Guild members, but she could tell that Lucy wasn't just tired.

"Luc-"

"Just focus on healing Natsu, okay Wendy?" Lucy cut across her quickly, not wanting to talk to the small girl about why she felt so terrible. Wendy silently nodded and put all her energy into healing Natsu again.

Slowly, after about ten minutes of being healed by the young Mage, Natsu's fingers began to twitch.

"He's waking up!" Lucy cried in relief, "Wendy, you're amazing!"

Wendy ducked her head to hide her red cheeks, "I'm not," she protested, "truthfully, I think you're the amazing one, Lucy-san."

"M-Me?" Lucy asked in shocked, she would never have chosen to describe herself as amazing. Wendy nodded her head in earnest, still pouring more of her magic into the final touches of Natsu's healing process,

"Mhm, Natsu's been looking after you for all these years hasn't he, and he came out all this way just to save you. I can tell by healing him that he pushed his body to the limit…just for you. I think you have to be a pretty amazing person for Natsu to go that far for!"

Lucy knew that Wendy was probably trying to be kind, but her words did nothing but make her feel even worse. She was just reiterating the fact that she was not able to do anything for Natsu except cause him more discomfort.

"Ah, he's done!" Wendy exclaimed happily, removing her hands from his chest and sitting backwards as Natsu blearily opened his eyes.

"How are you feeling Natsu-san?" she asked.

"Like I've lost a drinking contest against Cana," he admitted, grabbing his head and massaging it slowly, "thanks Wendy, are you okay?"

"Mhm! I'm fine, Natsu-san."

He then turned his attention to Lucy who suddenly froze, as if she feared some sort of trouble.

"And…and are _you _okay?" he asked, clearing his throat. She didn't trust her voice, so instead she nodded furiously. Natsu opened his mouth to say something else, but a deeper voice cut across him.

"I thank you for taking care of my future wife, but I'm afraid I'll have to take her off your hands now."

They all whirled around quickly to find Hades standing in the doorway nonchalantly, as if there wasn't a full scale battle raging on downstairs.

"_Hades_," Natsu growled, immediately putting himself into a sitting position, "you're not taking Lucy!"

"Y-yeah!" Wendy stuttered determinedly as she hopped off the bed and placed herself in front of Lucy.

Hades merely snorted in disgust, "it is not a matter of whether you want me to take the Princess or not. She is _mine_, and I always get what I want!"

"Not this you don't" Natsu suddenly stood up and began running towards Hades, "Wendy, _now_!"

Lucy watched in wonder as little Wendy quickly puffed her cheeks out and screamed,

"_SKY DRAGON'S ROAR_!"

At exactly the same time Natsu yelled out,

"_FIRE DRAGON' ROAR!"_

The air which came from Wendy met with Natsu's fire and it's power was immensely magnified. Natsu punched the ball of fire with his flamed fists and sent it rampaging into Hades. Lucy didn't know what to say. Wendy and Natsu seemed to be in perfect synchronisation, and she wondered if that were their Dragon Slayer's instincts coming through.

"I told you," Natsu growled just as the fire was about to hit Hades, "you aren't having Lucy!"

Lucy watched in anticipation for the fire to burn Hades into a crisp, but it didn't happen. Instead, Hades lazily swiped at the ball of fire as if it were nothing but a minor annoyance. The fire quickly vanished and Hades was left unharmed.

"Is that the attack of a Fairy Tail Mage?" Hades snarled, "pitiful. I can't believe Zancrow was defeated by you."

Lucy had to hand it to him, for an old man, he was extremely fast. Before she even had the chance to blink, he had bellowed out a magic spell and thick black chains appeared from nowhere. He quickly flung the chains into the air and latched one of them around Wendy's leg. Wendy didn't even have the chance to scream before he tugged the chain backwards, bringing Wendy with it.

"Wendy!" Lucy screamed, trying in vain to grab Wendy's hand. Hades laughed as he whirled his chain around and slammed Wendy's petite body into the wall of the room.

"Stop it! Stop it please!" Lucy begged as she watched Wendy cry and scream with every thud her body gave into the wall.

"You _bastard_," Natsu roared, igniting his fists on fire as he took a running jump towards Hades, "put Wendy down!" he attempted to punch Hades in the gut, but another two black chains appeared from nowhere and wrapped themselves tightly around both of Natsu's wrists.

"STOP IT!" Lucy begged as Hades caused the chains to pull at Natsu's arms, making them stretch far more than what was humanly possible. Wendy's screams of anguish and Natsu's bellows or torment were more than enough to make her go insane.

"Lucy!" Natsu groaned through gritted teeth, "Lucy…RUN!"

Lucy didn't even have time to inform him that she wasn't going anywhere before another chain shot of from Hades. This chain wrapped itself around her entire body apart from her head and squeezed her tightly. As the chain that was holding her squeezed her body, the chains that were holding Natsu and Wendy suddenly vanished, sending the two Mages falling to the floor.

"PUT LUCY DOWN!" Natsu roared, standing up slowly as he tried to ignore the way his arms screamed in protest.

"We're not letting you have her!" Wendy cried, she too stood up slowly as she tried to ignore the pain she felt in her stomach, she was sure at least two of her ribs had been broken.

"Persistent friends you have," Hades commented dryly, "I was planning to commit my annihilation of your damn Guild a few months after I became King, but it appears I'll have to bring it forward."

"Stop it _please_," Lucy begged, trying her best to squirm out of his chain grasp, "please, please stop hurting them! I'll do anything…I'll…I'll marry you!"

"Lucy!"

"No Lucy-san!"

Hades merely smirked, "my dear Princess, you act as if you have some choice in our marriage. I've already told you, you are _mine_!"

"She's not!" Natsu spat, "she's Lucy, and she's her own person! And if she doesn't want to marry a creep like you, she's sure as hell not gonna!" Natsu lunged forward and whirled his arms around his body,

"WINGS OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" he roared, sending to spiralling blasts of fire towards Hades. Once again, the powerful Mage simply dodged and batted the fire away.

"You're a hundred years too young to even think about defeating me, boy," Hades snarled in contempt, "now _die_!"

"_Amaterasu…Formula 28!" _Hades roared and directed his hands towards where Natsu and Wendy were both standing. At first, nothing happened and they wondered if perhaps Hades had failed. But within seconds an intricate design appeared on the floor and the air above them, encircling both Natsu and Wendy in it.

"Wha-" Natsu began before the circle they were standing in began to glow an ominous red.

"Natsu! Wendy!" Lucy shrieked as the area was engulfed in a massive spherical shockwave that literally shook the ground beneath them. She could hear Natsu's and Wendy's cries of shock and pain as the ground they were standing on suddenly disappeared before their feet and they plummeted towards the ground below.

"Hmph, you Fairy Tail scum are far too persistent for you own good!" Hades growled once the smoke of his attack began to clear. They could see Natsu clinging onto the floor that stopped them falling down several storeys and to their death. In his free arms he was holding a badly shaking Wendy, and Lucy could see that the impact of the explosion had injured both of them.

"Never mind, this attack will surely kill you."

"_Amatersaru…"_

"STOP THIS NOW!" Lucy cried, pushing as much as she possibly could against the chains that bound her. She could feel the cold metal piercing her skin as she pulled against it, but she didn't care, she had to get to them. She had to help her friends somehow.

"…_Formula…"_

"STOP IT!" she somehow managed to tear herself away from chains. She ignored the pain that she felt as the chains ripped a good amount of skin off her bared arms, and she ploughed forward, intent on blocking Hades attack from Natsu and Wendy.

"_28!" _Hades finished. He hadn't even noticed that Lucy was in his line of attack until after he finished the incantation.

"_LUCY!" _both Wendy and Natsu yelled as they noticed that the red circle that was supposed to encase them had wrapped itself around Lucy.

"I promised myself I wouldn't let you get hurt anymore," she told Natsu before the red circle began to glow brightly. Remembering what had happened to Natsu and Wendy she squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"NO!" Hades roared, furious with himself for not noticing that Lucy was in his line of attack. There was no turning back now, once the spell was cast there was no stopping it.

"_Maximum Defense Seal: Three Pillar Gods!"_

The red circle erupted in it's usual shockwave, and instead of embracing death like she had expected, Lucy found herself being cushioned by a soft substance. She opened her eyes and found that she had been encased in a gold barrier. The attack from Hades was still erupting around her, but the golden barrier was protecting her by bending and changing itself to absorb the attack that was meant for her. The smoke from Hades attack began to clear and the golden barrier that had protected her suddenly vanished.

"Lucy-san, are you okay?" Wendy asked her kindly as she scurried over to where Lucy was standing. Natsu too ran towards her, but kept his distance as Wendy inspected her.

"Gramps…" he breathed as he took in the sight before him.

Lucy had to admit, it was quite a scary sight. She would never have imagined that someone so small could have such a commanding presence. Master Makarov looked even more scary than Hades who was at least five times his height.

With the new presence of Makarov, Hades seemed to forget about Lucy, Natsu, and Wendy, and he turned all his attention to the furious old man who stood before him.

"Makarov," he snarled.

"Hades," Makarov snarled back, "what you have done here is unforgivable. You have attacked our King, the King you have sworn to protect. You have kidnapped and attacked his daughter. And, worse than all of that combined, you have hurt my children," his voice took on an angrier tone, and unless Lucy was mistaken, she was sure he had grown a bit as well, "I will never forgive you for that!" he growled.

Hades threw his head back and laughed loudly, "your time has passed, old man! The Princess will be mine, and your puny Guild will be squashed by my own!"

Makarov ignored Hades taunts and turned to Natsu, Wendy and Lucy, "youngsters!" he boomed, and Lucy had a feeling he wasn't just talking to them,

"I thank you for all your efforts. You have done well! _Take pride in being a part of Fairy Tail!" _he roared with pride. The air around them began swirling with a golden breeze that began dancing around Makarov's small frame.

"What is this magic?" Lucy gasped as the ground beneath her began to shake.

"It's Gramps," Natsu said with awe and a grin on his face, "nothing is stronger than him!"

"Hades," Makarov said, the golden magic still swirling around him, "as is the custom of Fairy Tail's Justice System, I shall give you until the count of three…"

Makarov suddenly grew, "KNEEL!" he bellowed, "_ONE_!"

"What are you talking about you old man!" Hades roared, "I would rather die than kneel to you!"

"TWO!"

Hades began preparing himself for another attack. Makarov began moulding the golden air around him into a small ball.

"THREE!"

Hades began to wave his arms in the air, ready to shoot another attack at Makarov.

"That's _enough_," Makarov said calmly, clapping his hands together, "Fairy Law… _activate!"_

Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy all ducked as the golden air suddenly jetted out in all directions, and yet dodged them. Several beams pierced through Hades skin, and hundreds flew out of the door.

Below them, where they could not see, every single Grimoire Heart member was pierced with the same golden beam that pierced Hades. At first it did nothing, but eventually they began to feel a burning sensation where they had been pierced. The golden beam engulfed every enemy in a golden blaze.

"WHAT IS THIS MAGIC?" Hades roared, trying without much success to bat himself free of the flame.

"That is Fairy Law," Makarov told him, "anyone I see as a threat or an enemy is attacked by it. There is no escape. This is over," as if to reiterate his words, the golden light suddenly grew and exploded. It was all too much for Hades, and with a final bellow of anger, the magic sent him flying backwards where he collapsed.

"It is over!" Makarov repeated, "Fairy Tail are victorious!"

Lucy didn't know how they had all heard Makarov's words, but she distinctly heard the sounds of the rest of the Guild members cheering in happiness below her.

* * *

They had won.

Hades and the Seven Kin of Purgatory had been taken away from sentencing by the Royal Guard.

Grimoire Heart had been disbanded.

They had won.

Lucy stared at them all and felt her heart break. Fairy Tail. They were all standing there smiling at her as if they hadn't just gone through a huge battle for her. As if some of them weren't bleeding or sporting bumps, bruises, and broken bones.

"Lu-chan? Oh…Lucy!" Levy cried, stepping forward from the large crowd and wrapping her arms around Lucy's body, "please don't cry!"

"B-but…Levy," Lucy howled, pulling Levy in tighter towards her chest, "your f-face!"

When Lucy saw Levy for the first time since the battle had ended, the first thing she noticed was the deep gash that ran along the side of her left cheek, her eye was bruised as well and overall her face just looked completely swollen. And that's not to say that many of the other Guild members weren't sporting even worse cuts and bruises. Makarov and Mirajane had completely fainted in exhaustion, Jet had broken one of his legs, Loki's knuckles were bruised and bleeding, Gajeel had had several of his piercings torn away from his skin leaving horrible blood marks everywhere, one of Juvia's ribs had been crushed, Gray had even gotten severe frostbite due to his overuse of his ice - she hadn't even known that was possible. Wendy was rushing around as fast as possible attempting to heal everyone's wounds, and it made Lucy sob even harder. Here was a little girl, half her age and her size, and she was able to do more help then Lucy could even dream of. And Natsu…well, she didn't even know where he was since he had scurried away to check on his Guild mates as soon as possible. But he had done so much for her, he'd almost died for her.

"Lu-chan, you need to stop crying," Levy said gently, pulling away from Lucy and giving her a bright smile, despite the way it stung at her torn cheek and bruised eye.

"You're all hurt," she mumbled, gesturing to the rest of the Guild who were lying around before her, "look how hurt you all got, because of me, how can I not cry?"

"Lucy!"

Erza's commanding and booming voice rang out and Lucy looked up to find Erza limping towards them. She winced as she saw the fine trail of blood that was trickling down her leg, and Lucy could tell Erza was extremely tired. It was a wonder to her that she was even able to stand.

"Y-yes, Erza?"

"Enough of this self loathing attitude, it's not becoming of you."

"But Erza-"

"I said _enough_!"

A Lucy saw a glint of anger in her eyes and promptly shut up.

"Nobody blames you for anything, Lucy. You were put in a situation that you had absolutely no control over," she gestured towards her comrades standing behind her, "nobody here fought alone. We are Mages of Fairy Tail. Fighting to save you was not even an option, we all knew we had to do it."

The Guild members behind her nodded in agreement.

"But why…? Why would you do so much for me?" Lucy choked, feeling more tears threatening to fall down her face.

"Because, you are a good person. And on top of that," she paused and gave Lucy a rare loving smile, "you are a part of Fairy Tail and you are a member of our family."

"Member of…your…family?" Lucy echoed, "but…but I'm not even a Mage…I can't be a-"

"That doesn't matter," Levy piped up.

"You have the spirit of a Fairy Tail Mage, and thus, you are one of us," Erza finished off.

"You guys…" Lucy trailed off before promptly collapsing into a fit of noisy and unrestrained tears. However, this time her friends allowed her to cry, for they were tears of happiness, and those were tears they were more than happy to allow.

* * *

The carriage her father had sent for her to take her back home to him pulled up to a halt outside the more or less completely destroyed castle that once belonged to Hades. It was a large carriage that was extremely well designed and told everyone that someone important would be travelling in it. She sighed as she realised that this would be the life she would have to get used to living. She was royalty once again. The elderly gentleman who was driving the carriage waved cordially towards her, signalling that it was time to go.

With a heavy heart she turned around to say her final farewells. She tried to hide the hurt in her face when she realised that at least one person was definitely missing from her goodbye entourage.

"So…this is it, huh?"

Many of the Guild members had already started to go home, but a good amount still hung around to see her off safely. Mirajane, who had been awoken a few moments earlier by Wendy, stepped forward and gave Lucy a back breaking hug,

"You better keep in touch, do you hear me?" she ordered Lucy.

"Yeah, you better not forget about us, Lu-chan!" Levy put in. Next to her, stood Gajeel, and Lucy noted that Levy had her arm wrapped around his waist whilst he had his larger arm draped casually across her neck. It appeared a lot had gone on between the two, and Lucy made a note to ask Levy about it later.

"I wouldn't dream of forgetting about you guys," she said earnestly, breaking free from Mira's grasp and moving forward to hug more people. After hugging most of her friends, even Gajeel - she had whispered to him that he better take care of Levy, she moved to hug Gray, but Juvia conveniently popped up between them and instead hugged her instead.

"Juvia likes Lucy-san," she admitted as she squeezed Lucy, "Lucy-san knows to keep away from Gray-sama."

In her own creepy way, Lucy knew Juvia was attempting to express her loving feelings towards her, and she smiled.

"I like you too Juvia…and…don't worry, I'm not interested in Gray," she whispered just for the blue haired Mage to hear. This seemed to delight Juvia for she squealed lightly and hugged Lucy even tighter.

"Well…this is it!" she said loudly after hugging everyone and promising to keep in touch, "I'll…I'll be going now, goodbye and I'll talk to you all soon!" she waved to everyone once more before taking the carriage master's hand and allowing his aide to help her get into his carriage. As the door closed she ducked her head and tried her hardest to not feel sadness. He hadn't said goodbye to her. She didn't really blame him, she hadn't been the kindest person to him recently, but she had hoped he would say goodbye. Apparently she had been wrong.

* * *

Natsu stood in the shadows of the destroyed castle and watched with a heavy heart as the carriage carrying Lucy rattled down the road and out of sight.

"Natsu?"

"Hm?" Natsu looked behind him to find Happy floating uncertainly behind him, "what's up?"

Happy fiddled awkwardly with his tail, "are you okay?"

Natsu flashed him one of his trademark smiles and shot him a cocky thumbs up, "never been better!" he lied. Happy saw through his lie, but still smiled and yelped out,

"Aye sir!"

He had known Natsu for far too long to believe his lie. Hell, even someone who hadn't known him for such a long time would have had trouble believing such an obvious life. Although he smiled and gave him a thumbs up, his eyes betrayed him. They were distant and held hints of sadness. With that and the way he was staring forlornly at the space where Lucy had just stood, Happy was more than sure that Natsu was definitely not okay.

"Hey…Natsu-" he began, he couldn't bare to see his friend looking so sad, but it appeared that someone else had the same idea as he.

"Oi, squinty eyes," Gray growled at him, coming to stand next to the disheartened dragon slayer, "where were you?"

Natsu scowled at Gray, normally he wouldn't have been so bothered to have Gray taunting and teasing him, but despite what he told Happy, he wasn't feeling particularly happy right now.

"What does it look like? I was right here…idiot."

"You didn't say goodbye to her," Gray stated, disappointment leaking through his voice, "that upset her."

It was obvious who he was talking about, and Natsu's heart panged slightly.

"I…I doubt that, she was probably glad I wasn't there!"

"No, she was definitely sad, she was looking for you."

"Really?" Natsu asked, with wide eyes, he didn't understand why Lucy would be looking for him. He thought she would've been glad that he wasn't there.

Gray sighed, why did he have to befriend such a dense person?

"Look," he began, wanting to hurry this up, "I don't know what went on between you two, but I do know that you upset her. A lot. And I can tell that she upset you. All I know is, you need to be a man and talk to her."

"You sound like Elfman," Natsu snorted, causing Gray to crack a small smile.

"I do don't I? Either way, she cares a lot about you, and I can tell that you care about her as well. I don't get why you're both so determined to hurt each other when it's clear what you both really want."

"And what's that?"

Gray grinned at him and punched him lightly in the shoulder, "I think you know what it is."

And it suddenly dawned on Natsu, he _did _know what he wanted, and he couldn't fathom why he had been so stupid about it.

"Thanks man," he grunted to Gray and he prepared to chase after Lucy.

"Hmph, just don't make me say anything that mushy ever again!" Gray called after him as he watched Natsu run at full speed down the road after Lucy's carriage.

"Will they be okay, Gray?" Happy asked, he too was staring after his friend.

Gray nodded as an even wider grin spread across his face, "yeah…they'll be fine." It was a sort of unspoken agreement within Fairy Tail that Gray and Natsu were like brothers. They looked out for each other under the disguise of being rivals, and Gray was happy to see that his "brother" was growing up.

* * *

She was shocked to find small beads of moisture fell onto her lap as she sat in the carriage that was taking her back to her father.

"I'm crying," she aloud, trying in vain the wipe the increasing tears away from her eyes. She had honestly thought that she had cried all her tears back at Hades castle, but it appeared she was wrong. As the carriage rattled along the bumpy road more and more tears fell. She didn't even bother to try and hide the reason she was crying.

"_N-Natsu_," she sobbed, half wondering if the carriage man could hear her crying. She didn't care either way. She couldn't fathom why she was getting so emotional about this. Hadn't they both made it clear to one another back at his castle that they were never going to see each other again? They weren't friends. She had made sure of that. Never had she regretted anything more in her life. She just wanted to turn back time and tell him everything, she wanted to tell him that she didn't mean those horrible words she had said before. She wanted to tell him how much he really meant to her. She wanted to tell him how grateful she was of his presence. She wanted to tell him that she _loved _him. But she had made a mistake, and now she would never have the opportunity to do so. Suddenly, the carriage broke without warning and she lurched forward, narrowly missing slamming her head on the wooden wall in front of her.

"Ow!" she huffed angrily, rubbing her elbow that she had used to brace her fall, "what was that?"

Outside she could hear the muffled sound of commotion and she briefly wondered if Hades was back and had somehow escaped the clutches of the Royal Guard who had taken him to jail. She recoiled to very back of the carriage and pulled her legs against her chest in an attempt to make herself as small as possible. She could see a shadow moving outside the carriage and it was getting closer and closer to her door. Small whimpers fell from her lips as she watched the shadow pull open the door, this was it…Hades was back to take her. As a gust of wind from the door being opened slapped her in the face, she ducked her head into her knees and began praying to whoever it was up there, that someone would save her.

"Luce?"

Her head snapped up in disbelief. It couldn't be him, could it?

"Are you okay?"

But it was him. Tears fell from her eyes as she quickly jumped up from her space and literally flung her arms around his neck, sending him reeling backwards.

"W-woah!" he cried as he instinctively wrapped his own arms around her waist to stop her from falling over.

"Natsu…oh, Natsu, it really is you!" Lucy muttered as she buried her face in his neck. She knew she was holding on to him far too tightly but she didn't care. She had to make sure this wasn't a dream, she had to make sure that he was really there. He had come to say goodbye.

The man driving the carriage stared at the exchange and smiled, knowing he had made a good choice to stop the carriage for the raving pink haired man.

"Ah, young love," he muttered to himself as he turned around to give them a bit of privacy.

Now he was actually here, standing in front of her, Natsu realised he didn't know what to say. Thankfully, she spoke first.

"I thought you hated me," she admitted as she pulled away from him and stood up on her own two feet. Natsu shook his head wildly,

"I could never hate you," he said softly, becoming more and more embarrassed with each passing second. Being romantic and "mushy" as Gray had so eloquently put it before, was something Natsu was not very good at. He preferred to jump in and deal with things later on, but he had a feeling Lucy wouldn't appreciate that sort of approach right now. They stood in silence, both sizing the other up, before Natsu decided to speak. He would do what Gray said, and be a man.

"Look Lucy, I…" he scratched the back of his head trying to find the best way to word his dilemma, "I'm really sorry I hurt you, I never meant to make you feel like that. Though…I don't even know what I did so-"

Lucy blinked at him in disbelief, "excuse me? You don't know what you did?"

Natsu thought he heard a hint of anger in her voice, but he brushed it aside, he had done nothing to make her angry. Right?

"Well yeah, I mean you just got all crazy on me for no reason. But it's okay, I forgive you, err wait, I mean…Luce, stop!" he knew he had definitely said the wrong thing there because Lucy scowled at him angrily before turning on her heel and making her way back to the carriage. He managed to grab her arm and whirl her back to face him.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked incredulously, "look, I'm not the smartest guy around, you know that."

"Indeed."

Natsu ignored her sarcastic comment and carried on, "so if I do something wrong, you need to tell me, how else do you expect me to work it out if you just get all crazy on me?" he winced, expecting Lucy to scream and shout at him, but instead she sighed and muttered,

"I guess you're right."

"So…are you going to tell me what I did wrong?"

"I heard you…talking to Loki and Gray," her voice began to break as she recalled the hurtful conversation, "you said that I was nothing more than a source of money. That hurt Natsu, it really did."

"Luce…"

It was as if she didn't hear his little interruption as she carried on venting, "I care so much about you, so, so much. And I mean nothing to you."

"Lucy-"

Again, she ignored him, she was on a roll now and she couldn't be stopped, "I really thought we had something, but I guess that was just me being naïve, huh? I tried to tell myself that it didn't hurt, and that I couldn't be mad at you for not loving me back the way I love you, but I couldn't do it."

Natsu's mouth dropped open as she spoke, "Love…"

"And then I tried to tell myself that I didn't love you anymore, that you were nothing but a source of entertainment to me, but I couldn't do it. I could lie to myself like that," tears were rolling down her cheeks as she continued to speak, "I wasn't supposed to fall in love with the Dragon, I was supposed to fall in love with the Prince!"

In a flash, Natsu's arms were around her body, pulling her in close to his chest.

"S-stop it!" she yelled, punching in vain to try and release herself from his grasp, "I don't want your pity, I don't need you to-"

Natsu decided it was time for his natural impulsive side to shine through once again, being patient clearly wasn't working for him. As she opened her mouth to yell at him some more, he dipped his head ever so slightly and quickly pressed his lips against her own. He allowed himself a small grin as at first he felt her stiffen and then relax into the kiss. Within seconds, she had angled her head upwards slightly to give him better access and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, her fingers tugging at the bottom of his hair. His own arms wrapped tightly around her waist as if he didn't want to let go anytime soon.

Their first kiss - or technically their second - was hesitant at first, with both of the participants unsure of what do to. Lucy noted that despite his rough nature, Natsu's lips were rather soft. Natsu noted that Lucy's lips were not only soft, but extremely plump and that the closer he got to her, the more he realised that she had a unique scent, one that he could get used to.

"_Luce_," he whispered against her lips when they finally pulled away, realising that they would need to come up for air. Male pride shot through his body as he took in her face. Her eyelids were half lidded in, her lips were slightly swollen, and she was clutching onto his body as if she let go she would drop.

"What…what was that for?" she gasped, her mind still reeling from what she had just done.

He stared at her in silence for a few moments, and she began to fear that he would simply shrug it off as a joke, but then his mouth widened into a smile and he said simply,

"Because I love you."

Lucy's eyes widened in shock, "you…_what?"_

"_I love you_"

To his complete and utter surprise, she _slapped _him.

"What the that for?" he yelled angrily, caressing his sore cheek.

"I said I don't want your pity! I told you, I heard what you said about me, am…am I just supposed to let you kiss me and tell me that you…that you…l-love me, when I know you're lying?"

"And what about you?" he retorted back, "what about the things you said to me? Huh?"

Lucy blushed, "I-I didn't mean that," she said meekly.

"Just like I didn't mean what you heard me say. I'm sorry…I'm sorry you heard what you heard, but I'm telling you…I didn't mean it. I love you, why can't you accept that?"

Lucy shook her head, "I can't…I can't!"

"And why not?" Natsu growled, stepping forward so he was closer to her, "why can't you believe me?"

"Because…well just look at me! I'm completely worthless compared to you. You can fight for me. You do so much for me, what can I give you back in return? Nothing! You can't love someone like me…you just can't. You're meant to love someone like Erza…someone strong, strong who you can fight with. Someone who makes you stronger. Not some stupid whiny Princess who can't look after herself. You're not supposed to love me!"

During her little speech, Natsu made his way closer to her so they were practically touching. He ran a hand through her hair and pulled her closer to him.

"I can't help it," he said quietly, burying his head in her hair, "I don't think you're worthless. You were worth over fourteen years of my life, weren't you? I think you're strong. So you can't fight all that well, you've got a strong heart, don't you? You've got strong willpower. And about that thing about fighting," he chuckled softly as he angled her head up so they were staring eye to eye, "I think we fight quite a lot, don't we?"

She had to agree with that one.

"And," he other hand snaked downwards and wrapped itself around her waist, "nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever made me as strong as you have. If I didn't get stronger for you, how can I protect you?"

"Natsu…" her arms instinctively wrapped themselves around his neck.

"And so," he finished off with his trademark grin, "I've fallen in love with some stupid whiny Princess, and I'm perfectly happy with that."

Normally, she would take offence to that statement, but this time she matched his grin with her own wide one, "and I've fallen in love with some idiotic, rude, dense Dragon Slayer, and I'm perfectly happy with that."

The man driving the carriage tried his best not to stare at them, but he couldn't help it. They looked so cute as they held on to each other, expressing their love as best they knew how.

"Ah, young love," he smiled happily to himself, wiping away a stray tear.

**THE END**

- but wait, there's an Epilogue!

(_don't forget to review this chapter though_)

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, not much to say here because I've said it all in the A/N in the Epilogue. This chapter is so long, I'm sorry! Or not, I know some people don't like big chapters but I prefer them sometimes, oh well, each to their own I guess. If you can believe it, there was actually quite a bit more but I cut it because I just thought it was _too _long. Well that's it…please make your way to the epilogue ^_^


	19. Epilogue

******Summary:** Lucy Heartphillia is thrown into a deep slumber meant to last until she is rescued by her "prince charming", she is left in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. Somehow, things don't go according to plan. Natsu/Lucy + multiple other pairings

******A/N: **AU(ish) fic, set in a world of magic but it's not necessarily the "Fairy Tail" world okay? Erm, I hope you enjoy ^_^

**The Dragon's Ward**

**EPILOGUE: **_TEN YEARS LATER_

"And that, my dear, is how your father and I met and fell in love," Lucy sighed happily as she slammed a thick brown book shut before staring at her seven year old pink haired daughter who sat on her bed looking very much awake. Lucy sighed again, she wasn't even sure how she had gotten cajoled into reading her their story, she knew it always kept her awake rather than put her to sleep like she had hoped.

"Aw man, Dad was such a jerk wasn't he?"

"Language, young lady…"

"…but so were you, so I guess it works out- _oww!_"

Lucy had sharply tapped her daughter on the head with the large book, she did not need someone, a seven year old in fact, telling her how foolish she and her husband had been in their younger years. Though now she thought back on it, she was glad they had acted that way towards one another, otherwise she wasn't sure she would've gotten the chance to fall in love with him…

"Okay Irie, you need to get to bed now. Fire…_out_," she pointed sternly at a medium sized fire inside the large fireplace that stood on the other end of the room. She and Natsu had once made the mistake of allowing her to keep the fire blazing in her room as she "slept", needless to say, there wasn't much left of her room by the next morning. Irie eye's gleamed happily and she quickly hopped out of bed and dashed to kneel in front of the fireplace. With a deep intake of breath, she inhaled the fire into her small mouth and gulped it down quickly before licking her lips and bounding back into bed. Their daughter had not only inherited Natsu's trademark pink hair, but she had also gained the same Dragon Slayer powers as he. With two hyperactive Dragon Slayers in her home, Lucy practically had to walk around with a bucket of water to put out all their fires.

"That was a good one," Lucy said, sounding impressed as she started to tuck Irie into the covers, "now you go straight to sleep if you want to go to the Guild tomorrow, understood?"

Irie nodded and closed her eyes immediately. Next to her home, the Guild was her favourite place to be and she never missed a rare opportunity to visit all the colourful characters that worked there.

Once she was sure that Irie wasn't going to run out of bed and cause havoc, Lucy quickly pressed a kiss against her forehead and then tiptoed out of her room, leaving the door ajar slightly.

"You told her our story again, huh?"

Lucy jumped slightly as she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her waist and pull her towards a hard chest, "stop creeping up on me like that," she moaned, twisting her body around so she was facing her husband full on. She didn't think she'd ever get tired of just staring into his eyes, "hey," she mumbled quietly, still staring into his eyes. He been on a mission with Gray and Erza for the past week and this was the first time she had seen him. Despite being a _King_, he had decided that he could never give up the Guild and therefore went on missions every other month or so.

"I missed you both," he muttered, pressing his lips against her cheeks as he started moving backwards, feeling his way back to their room with his keen dragon senses. Lucy had already wrapped her arms around his neck by this point.

They walked in silence until Natsu hit their wooden door and kicked it open with his foot, in a flash he had scooped Lucy up in his arms and dropped her gently on their bed.

"So…how was the mission?" she asked, sitting up on her elbows as Natsu crawled into bed beside her, she positioned herself so she lay across his warm chest and began tracing the muscles that ran across his abdomen.

"It was alright," he grinned sheepishly, "I may…or may not have set Erza on fire," his grin turned into a wince as he remembered the beating Erza had given him once she awoke to find her long luxurious hair was now a red and burnt birds nest. Lucy let out a loud chuckle of laughter, imagining correctly the reaction Erza would have had to find her hair burnt off. She was surprised that Natsu was even able to walk.

"How were you and Irie, did you two have fun?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, she loved her daughter and would gladly do anything for her, but her hyperactive nature rivalled her fathers and it was often difficult to keep her entertained with anything for more than five minutes, "well let's see, she burnt down one of the stables, got into a fight with one of the messenger boys - who I might add was _16 years old_ - oh and she also managed to burn the fourth floor bathroom down. _How _she managed that with all that water in there, I have no idea, but she did it," she paused for a moment remembering how Irie had come downstairs to casually tell her mother that their bathroom was on fire, as if it were nothing, "Levy and Juvia came over on Thursday. Levy brought Cain and Juvia is getting so big, oh my goodness she looks like she's about to burst!"

"Yeah, Gray was telling me…he was getting worried about leaving her for the mission, but she convinced him to go…"

"Mmm, well Irie had fun playing with Cain, God knows what trouble they got up to though. After they left she kept moaning about having nobody to play with most of the time. I think she's hinting that she wants a baby brother or sister," she laughed, not thinking that what she had said would have any significance. There was a silence for a moment before Natsu rolled over, pinning Lucy to the bed with his hands.

"Natsu, what the hell are you doing?" she asked, pretending to be mad, but failing terribly as she saw the hungry look in his eyes.

"Irie wants a brother or sister," he mumbled, lowering his head to her neck and lathering it in hot kisses that made her squirm underneath him. He didn't stop kissing her until he had made it back up to her lips where he hovered precociously above her plump lips, "I say give her what she wants…" he finally said, with a mischievous grin before he dropped his lips upon her own and claimed what was rightfully his. Lucy giggled into the kiss as her legs involuntarily wrapped around his waist in anticipation of what was about to happen.

She may not have married the Prince of her dreams. But she wouldn't want it any other way.

**THE END**

* * *

**LAST AUTHORS NOTE: **Oh my God, so this is the end huh? I actually got a bit emotional when I finished typing this. I never thought I would get so many positive reviews about this, so thank you everyone who reviewed, favourited, and alerted this story! I wanted to end it a bit fluffy and I thought this was a good way to end it. Irie is actually a character from another manga by Hiro Mashima called Monster Hunter Orage, and she has pink hair and reminded me of Natsu and thus, she was born!

I really hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you all so much, if it's not too much to ask, I wanted everyone whose read this far to leave a little review especially if you haven't done so before? Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed and favourited and alerted and oh my gosh, you guys are so brilliant and I LOVE YOU ALL!

aaah now I can work on my Gajeel and Levy story and ugh I have another idea for a Natsu and Lucy one _and _a Gray and Juvia one ;_; So many plot bunnies, so little time ;_;

Anyway...this is my first completed contribution to the Fairy Tail fandom and I'm very happy with how it turned out, I hope you are too!

**EDIT: **Okay hi, I'm just adding this in since a few people reviewed the same thing. I'm well aware that Hades has his own version of "Fairy Law" but I chose to omit it from this story because I felt it would make him too powerful, and this isn't really the type of story focussed on action and fighting skills. That's exactly the same reason I opted to cut out Bluenote and Gildarts from this story. Also, I know Hades is technically older than Makarov but hey guys, this isn't canon is it? *shrug* I _do _**always **start off every chapter by saying this is an AU(ish) fic, which means there will be minor discrepancies from time to time. Also, I got my first flame on this story and I got a bit sad. Okay that's all ^_^

**THANK YOU!**


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